Almost 1 million people have gotten a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine since U.S. regulators authorized them for immunocompromised people Aug. 12, according to CDC data cited by CNBC Aug. 31.
About 955,000 people have gotten an additional dose of either Pfizer or Moderna's shot, though it's unclear if all of those people were considered immunocompromised, according to CNBC. The number includes people who previously got two doses of Pfizer or Moderna's vaccine or one dose of Johnson & Johnson's.
The CDC and FDA are still determining whether to administer booster shots to the general population. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is meeting Aug. 31 to discuss the issue, though the White House already announced plans to offer boosters to the population starting Sept. 20.
"Nationally we think about 3 [percent] of the population is immunocompromised, so we're really asking particularly medical directors in long-term care to do a deep analysis of those medical records and identify individuals who should be queued up to get that third dose right now," New Jersey's state health commissioner, Judy Persichilli, RN, told CNBC.
Some members of the advisory committee told CNBC Aug. 30 that the data supporting wide distribution of boosters in the general population is limited.
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