Fauci ‘strongly in favor’ of COVID booster shots, urges FDA approval

"We need to look at them in a different light," said Fauci on Sunday. "We will almost certainly be boosting those people before we boost the general population that's been vaccinated, and we should be doing that reasonably soon."

"We announced just [Tuesday] that we hit an important milestone of over 110 million vaccines donated to the world. That is more than any other country has shared," said White House spokesperson Jen Psaki.

"We also, in this country, have enough supply to ensure that every American has access to a vaccine," she said. "We will have enough supply to ensure, if the FDA decides that boosters are recommended for a portion of the population, to provide those as well."

Dr. Katherine O'Brien, WHO's vaccines chief, noted that a "very limited number" of countries gave booster doses, though many contemplated the idea.

Countries like Israel, France, and Germany administered booster shots before, while the US and Great Britain are considering them with the emergence of the Delta variant. In Israel, the first country to roll out boosters, more than half a million people aged 60 and over will have their third injection by the end of Sunday.

Fauci spoke on whether official approval would be given for booster shots. He said most people who have compromised immune systems, including those with organ transplants or who are on chemotherapy, "never did get an adequate response" from their COVID vaccination.

When asked if other groups should get booster shots, Fauci said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would give a recommendation as soon as they can be based on the data. Referencing the elderly, those in nursing homes and young people, he said: "As soon as they see that level of durability of protection goes down, then you will see the recommendation to vaccinate those individuals."

"The evidence is evolving. It's moving. We don't have a full set of evidence around whether this is needed or not," said O'Brien, adding that "we need instead to focus on those people who are most vulnerable."

However, Fauci stressed: "The vaccines are still doing what you originally want them to do. To keep you out of the hospital to prevent you from getting seriously ill."

He said he also supports vaccine mandates at local levels, such as schools and universities, after a full approval from the Food and Drug Administration on COVID-19 vaccines. "You're going to see the empowerment of local enterprises giving mandates. That could be colleges, universities, places of business, a whole variety, and I strongly support that."

A full approval could arrive "within the next few weeks," said Fauci, according to Bloomberg. "I hope it's within the month of August," he said. Vaccines in the US have been given to residents under emergency-use approval, a reason some people refused the vaccine.

He said the variant presents the additional problem that vaccinated people can also transmit the virus to someone else. That led to the CDC revising its mask guidelines recently. Across the US, the Delta variant procures more than 100,000 new infections a day.