FDA OKs Additional Booster For Immune Deficient, 50+ In Wisconsin

WISCONSIN — Federal regulators approved of a second booster dose for both people 50 and older and people with weakened immune systems in Wisconsin, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday.

A second booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines can be given to people 50 and older at least 4 months after their first booster dose, the FDA said. Those 12 and older with compromised immune systems, like those who have had an organ transplant for example, can get the shot four months after their first booster.

COVID-19 cases have declined across the U.S. but doctors are wary of omicron's sub-variant BA.2, or "stealth omicron," which made up 86 percent of global cases, Reuters reported. Health experts agree that getting vaccinated against the disease, including boosters, are the best way to fight the spread of the disease.

For those looking for a COVID-19 vaccine, or a booster dose, health officials said to go to Vaccines.gov, Wisconsin Department of Health Services spokesperson Elizabeth Goodsitt said. Getting tested is also a good way to protect friends and family from coronavirus.

Here's how COVID-19 cases are doing in Wisconsin.

State health services reported a seven-day average of 316 new cases per day on Sunday, after 152 new cases were confirmed.

BA.2 made up half of cases in the Midwest, including Wisconsin — 50.4 percent of cases were caused by "stealth omicron," data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed. BA.2 cases make up over half of COVID-19 cases across the country, according to federal data.

The seven-day average for cases in Milwaukee County was 33 on Tuesday, data from the county showed. Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, there were 188 people in hospital beds across Wisconsin, data from the Wisconsin Hospital Association showed.

Approval of a second booster is a complicated matter, though, because health experts don’t know the timing of the next COVID-19 surge, The Associated Press reported. It is more difficult to predict for a number of reasons, including the use of at-home tests, whose results aren't included in government data; and the government’s shift in data collection to focus on hospitalizations, which occur after a surge has arrived.

Citing real-world data from Israel, among a handful of countries that offer a second booster shot, Pfizer has asked the FDA to greenlight the additional booster shot for people 65 and older.

Moderna followed suit, asking the FDA to approve a broad emergency use application of an additional vaccine booster to include any adult over 18 who has gotten any authorized or approved vaccine.

Both vaccine makers cited studies that confirmed infections were two times lower and rates of severe illness were four times lower among people who received the second Pfizer booster, compared to people who received only one, according to a press release.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has scheduled an April 6 meeting of its advisory committee. The agenda for the meeting includes “considerations for use of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and the process for COVID-19 vaccine strain selection to address current and emerging variants.” The administration doesn’t need the blessing of either the FDA or CDC to move forward, but Dr. Jesse L. Goodman, a former chief scientist at the FDA, said skipping the advisory committees would be a mistake.

“This is a complex decision that involves a pretty deep dive, and I think it would really benefit from public discussion,” Goodman, a former chief scientist at the FDA, told the Times. “I would not want to see an advisory committee skipped on this.”