Joe Biden: We’re Considering COVID Booster Shots in ‘as Little as 5 Months’ After Vaccination

President Joe Biden revealed Friday that federal health officials are now considering guidelines for coronavirus booster shots just five months after individuals receive their complete immunizations.

“We’re considering the advice you’ve given that we should start earlier,” Biden stated as he met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in the Oval Office. “Should it be as little as five months and that’s being discussed.”

Biden’s remarks follow a report which stated regulators were likely to approve a booster shot for vaccinated adults beginning at the six-month gap following the previous shot instead of eight months.

Per the Wall Street Journal:

Data from vaccine manufacturers and other countries under review by the Food and Drug Administration is based on boosters being given at six months, the person said. The person said approval for boosters for all three Covid-19 shots being administered in the U.S.—those manufactured by Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson —is expected in mid-September.

Last week, the FDA fully approving Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, making it the first jab to receive the agency’s full approval outside of emergency use authorization.

“The FDA’s approval of this vaccine is a milestone as we continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. While this and other vaccines have met the FDA’s rigorous, scientific standards for emergency use authorization, as the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine, the public can be very confident that this vaccine meets the high standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality the FDA requires of an approved product,” Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said at the time.

“While millions of people have already safely received COVID-19 vaccines, we recognize that for some, the FDA approval of a vaccine may now instill additional confidence to get vaccinated. Today’s milestone puts us one step closer to altering the course of this pandemic in the U.S,” he added

More than 200 million Pfizer doses have been administered in the U.S. under emergency provisions — and hundreds of millions more worldwide — since December. In going a step further and granting full approval, the Food and Drug Administration cited months of real-world evidence that serious side effects are extremely rare.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.