Some Americans may need to get 4th COVID shot

Adults with pre-existing medical conditions who have already received the Moderna or Pfizer double vaccinations and a third shot will be able to get a fourth one, federal health officials say.

“People who are moderately and severely immunocompromised may receive a total of four COVID-19 vaccine doses,” the Centers for Disease Control said in its guidelines updated Tuesday.

The CDC authorized a third dose for immunocompromised people 18 and older in August. The fourth shot should be received at least six months after the third, the CDC said. The CDC does not consider the third shots now being approved for Moderna and Pfizer vaccines as boosters.

Some medical conditions and treatments can make it difficult for immunocompromised people to build and retain immunity, resulting in the need for a fourth shot, the CDC says.

The United States has passed one important milestone in its recovery from a delta variant-driven surge of coronavirus and is close to another. Johns Hopkins University data shows the U.S. reported fewer than 500,000 cases a week through Monday, a number that fell to 476,873 in the seven-day period ending Tuesday. The country hadn’t been below 500,000 since July 29, and went on to record some 1.15 million cases in the week ending Sept. 4.

With cases falling for nearly two months, deaths have also been dropping and appear likely to soon dip below 10,000 per week. There were 10,346 COVID-19 deaths in the seven-day period ending Tuesday, the lowest figure since Sept. 6, a holiday, after which every week has reported at least 10,000 deaths. Deaths in the delta-driven wave peaked at 14,648 on Sept. 22, or about 2,100 per day.