Fauci said clinical studies and laboratory data have yet to fully bear out the need for a booster to the current two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson regimen.<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON \u2014 The top U.S. infectious diseases expert said Sunday \u201cit is entirely conceivable, maybe likely\u201d that Americans will need a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the coming months, but it is too soon for the government to recommend another shot. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is President Joe Biden\u2019s chief medical adviser, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration did the right thing last week by pushing back against drugmaker Pfizer\u2019s assertion about a booster within 12 months. Hours after Pfizer\u2019s statement Thursday that it would seek authorization for a third dose, the two agencies said they did not view the booster shots as necessary \u201cat this time.\u201d Fauci said clinical studies and laboratory data have yet to fully bear out the need for a booster to the current two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson regimen. \u201cRight now, given the data and the information we have, we do not need to give people a third shot,\u201d he said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean we stop there.\u2026 There are studies being done now ongoing as we speak about looking at the feasibility about if and when we should be boosting people.\u201d He said it was quite possible in the coming months \u201cas data evolves\u201d that the government may urge a booster based on such factors as age and underlying medical conditions. \u201cCertainly it is entirely conceivable, maybe likely at some time, we will need a boost,\u201d Fauci said. Currently only about 48% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated. Some parts of the country have far lower immunization rates, and in those places the delta variant is surging. Last week, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, said that\u2019s leading to \u201ctwo truths\u201d \u2014 highly immunized swaths of America are getting back to normal while hospitalizations are rising in other places. On Sunday, Fauci said it was inexplicable that some Americans are so resistant to getting a vaccine when scientific data show how effective it is in staving off COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, and he was dismayed by efforts to block making vaccinations more accessible, such as Biden\u2019s suggestion of door-to-door outreach. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., agreed Sunday that there is a vaccine resistance in Southern and rural states like his because \u201cyou have that more conservative approach, skepticism about government.\u201d Describing his efforts to boost vaccinations in his state, which is seeing rising infections, Hutchinson said \u201cno one wants an agent knocking on a door,\u201d but \u201cwe do want those that do not have access otherwise to make sure they know about it.\u201d The grassroots component of the federal vaccination campaign has been in operation since April, when supplies of shots began outpacing demand. It was outlined and funded by Congress in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill passed in March and overwhelmingly is carried out by local officials and private sector workers and volunteers. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., blasted opposition to vaccination efforts from some GOP lawmakers as \u201cabsolute insanity.\u201d He said House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California and others in the party need to speak out against \u201cthese absolute clown politicians playing on your vaccine fears for their own selfish gain.\u201d Fauci appeared on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union,\u201d ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week\u201d and CBS\u2019 \u201cFace the Nation\u201d; Hutchinson spoke on ABC, and Kinzinger was on CNN.<\/p>\n