US okays booster shots for all adults

Washington, November 19

US regulators on Friday opened up Covid-19 booster shots to all adults, expanding the government’s campaign to shore up protection and get ahead of rising Covid cases that may worsen with the holidays.

Pfizer and Moderna announced the Food and Drug Administration’s decision after at least 10 states had already started offering boosters to all adults.

The latest action simplifies what until now has been a confusing list of who’s eligible by allowing anyone 18 or older to choose either company’s booster six months after their last dose — regardless of which vaccine they had first.

But there’s one more step: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must agree to expand Pfizer and Moderna boosters to even healthy young adults.

If the centre agrees, tens of millions more Americans could have three doses of protection ahead of the new year. Anyone who got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine can already get a booster. — AP

Sub-lineage of Delta detected in Lanka

Colombo: Sri Lanka on Friday detected a new sub-lineage of the Delta variant of Covid-19, scientifically named B.1.617.2. AY 104, making it the third mutation of the coronavirus to have originated in the nation. PTI