‘Behind the Curve’: CNN Medical Analyst Hits Biden Agencies for Being Too Slow to Recommend Boosters

Sarah RumpfNov 12th, 2021, 3:05 pm
 
UCLA ER doctor Medell Briggs-Malonson closes her eyes as she gets prepped for inoculation of the Covid-19 vaccine from nurse Eunice Lee at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, California on December 16, 2020

Brian van der Brug/Getty Images

CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner called out the Biden administration’s health agencies on Friday, posting 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.

Earlier this year, the FDA fully approved the initial shots of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, both of which use mRNA to deliver their immune-boosting payload.

In October, the FDA updated their guidance to recommend booster shots.

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.

The updated FDA guidance also allowed people to “mix and match” their booster shots, so their booster didn’t necessarily need to be the same type as their original vaccine.

At the end of October, the FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine in children as young as 5 years old. There has been no new guidance on booster shots for children, nor any expanded recommendations that the broader American adult population seek booster shots.

Reiner criticized that lack of action on booster shots, highlighting positive data from studies showing how well the booster shots worked at improving the efficacy of the vaccines.

“Every adult in this country” who was more than 6 months past their second mRNA (Pfizer or Moderna) shot “should get a booster,” wrote Reiner. The FDA and CDC were “taking way too long to get to this obvious decision,” he added. “The US is once again behind the curve here.”

Mediaite reached out to Reiner for comment, and he reiterated the promising studies about the benefits of the boosters.

A large-scale Israeli study published in late October confirmed that a third Pfizer shot increased efficacy against preventing hospitalization and death. Updated data from Israel, as Reiner noted, showed not just longer lasting (up to 9-10 months or longer) efficacy for the boosters, but that those who had received a booster shot had both more antibodies and those antibodies were better at preventing severe disease or death.

In a subsequent tweet, Reiner warned that the FDA and CDC were “at risk of making themselves  irrelevant as multiple states are allowing anyone to get a booster.” He linked to an NPR article reporting that the California Department of Public Health was allowing all adults to get booster shots “as long as at least six months have passed their second dose of the two-shot Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or two months must have passed since their Johnson & Johnson shot.”

Reiner praised any adult getting a booster shot under those recommended time frames. He did not think that there had been enough data yet to be able to recommend boosters for adolescents, “but I think we should be boosting all adults who are 6 months out from their 2nd shot.”

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.