After getting complete approval from US regulators, CDC is now in support of the Moderna Covid vaccine. Even earlier, the agency had promoted vaccines as the best measure to avoid infection.
Moderna Covid Vaccine Gets CDC Backing After Full US Approval
The FDA has initially given emergency use authorization for many vaccines in the early stages of the pandemic, and even Moderna had received similar approval from FDA. However, the FDA gave full approval to the Moderna vaccine after the company had completed all the remaining clinical trials.
Experts feel that there is no practical implication of the CDC backing the Moderna vaccine at this juncture as the vaccination program has already been completed for a majority of people in the US.
As soon as the emergency approval was given, Moderna shots were available for the public, and millions of people have already taken the vaccine since last year.
The vaccination rate has come down significantly after reaching the 60% mark in the US. As of now, nearly 30% of the adult population in the US is not yet vaccinated, and this is a matter of concern for the health authorities.
A similar trend is seen among children, and nearly 50% of the kids in the eligible category have not yet taken the vaccine for Covid infection. This shows that people are slowly losing interest in vaccines.
There are many reasons for this decline in the vaccination rate across the country. To begin with, there was a lot of vaccine hesitancy among Americans, and it even became a political issue during the US elections.
Such people are still not convinced about the efficacy of the vaccines, and they have completely avoided the vaccination program. It is difficult to convince such people, and they continue to be vulnerable to future infections.
Apart from that, the efficacy of the vaccine is also something that many people question. It is already evident that vaccines are not completely reliable when it comes to preventing Covid infection.
The chances of getting infected are reduced by taking the vaccines. However, taking vaccines does not mean that the person becomes completely immune to the infection. The efficacy of the vaccines decreases with time, and further booster doses are required to maintain the protection level against the virus.
Due to this reason, many people feel that they have to repeatedly take the vaccines to get continued protection. This has demotivated many people, and they are not willing to depend on the vaccines for a long time.
This is the reason for the lack of response to booster doses in the US. Less than half of the eligible people have taken the booster doses so far in the country.
Another important reason for the decline in vaccination rate is the lack of severe infections during the Omicron wave. When the third wave started in the US, everyone was concerned about an increase in the number of cases as the variant is extremely transmissible.
However, Omicron causes milder symptoms when compared to Delta, and this means that most people can recover at home without getting admitted to hospitals. Due to this situation, many people have avoided booster shots.
Apart from that, Omicron has also infected people who have taken both doses of vaccines. This shows that vaccines are completely reliable, and many people lose confidence in the vaccines.
CDC must start promoting vaccines for kids as they are the most vulnerable population in this wave. As of now, there is no approved vaccine for children under the age of 5, and the agency is looking forward to approving a few vaccines soon for young children.
