In Tennessee, less than 45% of the population is fully vaccinated. The state leads the nation in the number of new COVID-19 cases per capita.
The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of one in every 500 Americans, according to Johns Hopkins University. Now, the battle over booster shots is intensifying. Pfizer and Moderna are making a major push for, but the Food and Drug Administration is staying neutral. The FDA on Wednesday released new documents from Pfizer ahead of an advisory panel meeting scheduled for Friday to discuss COVID booster shots. The documents claim that protection from Pfizer’s vaccine loses some effectiveness after six months but improves to 95% after a third dose. In a separate document, FDA staff noted they have yet to verify some data that would support an additional dose, saying the current vaccines « still afford protection against severe COVID-19 disease and death in the United States.
