SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Amid an ongoing surge in cases, federal health officials are considering opening up eligibility for a second COVID-19 booster shot to everyone, however, a Johns Hopkins health expert is hitting out against the decision.
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Currently, the booster shot is only authorized for people 50 years old and older.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told KCBS Radio's "Ask An Expert" this is because of the benefit that age group will receive from getting a fourth shot.
"When you look at where the benefit is for the second booster, it's really not the general population," Adalja said. "It is in those that are high risk for severe disease, so that tends to cluster among the elderly people with high risk conditions, not so much the general healthy population."
He said the potential to expand the fourth booster's eligibility would be a decision made from a political standpoint instead of a scientific one. "There's a lot of people who want boosters who think they need to be boosted, despite the evidence showing that the people who benefit most are those that have high risk conditions and are elderly," he explained.
Instead of offering a second booster for all Americans, Adalja advised that the U.S. should heavily emphasize why the shot would be beneficial for a person who is high risk. "I fear that the message gets diluted when it becomes 'everybody needs a booster' and the 65-year-old thinks he's the same as the 45-year-old in terms of the urgency to need a booster," he said.
Oftentimes public health uses a "one size fits all" method, he added, explaining he believes that there will be some pushback about expanding the booster's eligibility, but "ultimately, what the Biden administration wants they'll get."
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