Page 70 - Immunocompromised News Today

Couple of specifics here, because these come up. they did define a little bit more clearly what theyre calling immunocompromised. moderate and severe immunocompromised and if we have the list, we can put it up, but people who have had organ transplants, people who have recently or currently are taking chemotherapy for cancer, people who may take other types of medications which suppress their immune system. if you are immunocompromised, you probably know it, but that list will be available so yo...

If youre not sure about it, you can talk to your doctor, and one of the things that struck me today, jim, its sort of an honor system. theres not going to be a prescription for this third dose. its going to be self-attestation to the pharmacist. you dont have to show an antibody level or something like that. so i think its going to be a discussion. >> thats good news. and how do advisers determine who needs these additional doses first? how did that process work? >> i think theres two main thing...

Get another pfizer. if you got moderna, get another moderna, but thats probably likely to change as well, theyre finding not only is it okay to get shots from other manufacturers it might beneficial because you may stimulate other parts of the immune system and that may offer more protection. well see on that as well. but i think that hospitalizations and death is the critical number there. what about johnson & johnson? i got the johnson & johnson vaccine but im concerned about delta. should i g...

Eventually but probably not now. >> lets take a listen to what dr. fauci told last night about this very thing. >> we are assuming that sooner or later were going to have to give boosters. so what were doing right now, the decision is we dont need to do it right now. it is not imminent. >> you know, a lot of people in my circle are saying, okay, it is not imminent, but how do we know if people got the vaccine in january, that it is not running out, so how is that being tested and looked at. >> i...

Know besides having lower antibody levels theyre also far more likely to get sick. 485 times more likely to be hospitalized. so its not just that they have fewer antibodies. its that that means something, theyre actually getting sicker as a result. let me show you something here from the new england journal of medicine. this study came out yesterday. it was published yesterday. that basically shows in transplant recipients, people who would be considered immunocompromised, after the first two sh...

Battling kcovid in the hospital. thats the highest number at any point during this pandemic. so, joining us now is cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. sanjay, this decision from the fda came overnight the decision to authorization a third shot for the immunocompromised. how significant is this? >> i think its really significant for that group of people. 9 to 10 million people that were talking about. not surprising for all the reasons you just mentioned. i mean, i think theres been...

Country with low vaccination rates. >> reporter: hospitals running low on rooms, staff and hope. florida and texas accounting for 40% of new hospitalizations nationwide. >> very tired. >> reporter: federal officials announcing the next step includes booster shots for the immunocompromised. >> it could help increase protections for individuals which is important as the delta variant spreads. >> reporter: the fda now recommending another shot of pfizer or moderna for the most vulnerable, such as c...

Might need booster shots the immunocompromised. your thoughts on that. >> the immunocompromised authorized by the fda and fully supportive of it i also believe very soon we will be doing boosters to those who are older than 60. israel just dropped it older than 50. we novak seen immunity wanes over time. the people who get hospitalized or die are the immunosuppressed or the elderly. i do think the writing is on the wall. we are going to have boosters for the elderly very soon and for the normal ...

Third vaccine shot? and do you think that in the reasonable future, it will be, and it will spread to americans, not just the immunocompromised? >> i think thats whats happening. a lot of people going rogue at this point. they are seeing that israel is now vaccinating individuals over the age of 60. they are not really getting a lot of clear communication of why the pfizer ceo has said that we will need a third immunization for delta. israel is doing it but the u.s. doesnt feel its necessary. an...

But were preparing as if it will be imminent. so were going to be ready to do it whenever the data shows that the protection is gone below a certain level because of a combination of the durability of protection and the special effect youre seeing with the delta variant. >> joining us now is andy slavitt, the presidents former senior adviser for covid response and author of "preventable: the inside story of how leadership failures, politics and selfishness doomed the u.s. coronavirus response." ...