Dr. Scott Gottlieb Criticizes ‘Confusing Message’ Around Covid-19 Booster Shots: ‘One of the Biggest Missed Opportunities In This Pandemic’

Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb criticized the “confusing” messaging about Covid-19 booster shots, deeming it “one of the biggest missed opportunities in this pandemic.”

In October, the FDA updated their guidance to recommend booster shots for all three of the Covid-19 vaccines approved for use in adults.

For anyone 18 years or older who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, they approved booster shots at least two months after the original shot. For those who got either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, they approved boosters at least six months after the second shot for those who were 65 years or older, were medically at high risk of complications if they caught Covid-19, or worked or lived where they were at high risk of exposure, such as nursing home residents, health care workers, or teachers.

Gottlieb, who currently serves as a Pfizer board member, made the comments in an appearance on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan, who mentioned that the NBA was recommending that their players get booster shots, and Dr. Anthony Fauci had been strongly encouraging boosters as well.

“Why isn’t the CDC telling us to go get booster shots now?” asked Brennan.

“I think that the confusing message around the boosters may end up being one of the biggest missed opportunities in this pandemic,” Gottlieb replied, noting the “very clear evidence of declining vaccine effectiveness over time.”

“Anyone’s who’s eligible for a booster — and most Americans probably are eligible for a booster at this point — should be going out and seeking it,” he said, calling boosters “the fastest way that we can increase the total immunity in the population.”

It was also easier to “convert that person” who had already received the initial vaccine shots to convince them to get a booster, Gottlieb continued, as compared to one of the 18% of Americans who were still unvaccinated.

Brennan went back to Gottlieb’s comment about the booster messaging being “one of the biggest missed opportunities,” commenting that America’s response to the pandemic had been “full of mistakes,” and asked him why he thought this was the biggest one.

Gottlieb replied that he believed we had missed an opportunity to get ahead of the wave caused by the Delta variant, and the boosters were so effective in increasing the level of “residual immune protection” so that people not only did not get sick or die, but did not get infected to a degree that they could transmit the virus.

The FDA is currently considering recommending booster shots for all adults.

Gottlieb isn’t alone in his view wanting to encourage the immediate widespread adoption of booster shots. Earlier this week, CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner posted several tweets criticizing the FDA and CDC for “taking way too long to get to this obvious decision” to recommend Covid-19 booster shots to all adults.

“Every adult in this country > 6 months out from their 2nd mRNA shot should get a booster,” wrote Reiner.

Watch the video above, via CBS.