WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will receive a COVID-19 booster shot on Monday, the White House said days after his administration green-lighted a third shot of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine in certain populations.
Biden will also deliver remarks when he gets the shot at 1 p.m. (1700 GMT), it said in a statement.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week backed an additional dose of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech vaccine for Americans aged 65 and older, adults with underlying medical conditions and adults in high-risk working and institutional settings. [L1N2QP2FD]
Biden, 78, has said he and his wife Jill Biden would get their booster dose as soon as eligible.
While scientists are divided over the need for COVID booster shots now when so many people in the United States and other countries remain unvaccinated, Biden announced the push in August as part of an effort to further shore up protections amid the highly transmissible Delta variant.
Only certain populations who received their last dose of Pfizer’s shot at least six months ago are eligible for another shot now, U.S. regulators said. The FDA has not yet considered Moderna’s application for boosters and Johnson & Johnson has not yet applied for one.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Susan HeaveyEditing by Alistair Bell)
