Top U.S. health officials told the White House they may not have enough data to recommend Covid-19 booster shots for the wider general public by late September as President Joe Biden had anticipated, the New York Times reported on Sept. 3.

A study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases found that the Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccines resulted in a drop in “long-haul” Covid-19 by 50 percent. According to data collected by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), more than 500,000 children tested positive in the United States for Covid-19 from August 5 to August 26.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Belgium researchers comparing the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines found that the Moderna jabs generated twice the antibodies as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

An advisory panel to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Aug. 30 unanimously recommended the Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE Covid-19 vaccine for people age 16 and older, an important step that could help accelerate vaccine mandates in the United States.

The Covid-19 variant C.1.2., which was first detected in South Africa in May 2021, is causing public health experts worldwide to keep an eye out for its presence as it seems to be more infectious and even more resistant to vaccines than other variants.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said on Aug. 29 he supports Covid-19 vaccine mandates for children attending schools as the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus continues to fuel a surge in cases in the nation.

In line with growing concerns that certain Covid-19 vaccines are causing unusual blood clotting problems, a group of scientists from the U.K. conducted a massive study on the link between vaccinations and dropping platelet counts and found that the problem lies more on the virus itself than on the medications. 

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is testing a booster shot of Covid-19 vaccines in people with autoimmune diseases who have not responded well to the primary vaccine course.

Pfizer Inc. on Aug. 25 said a booster dose of the company’s two-shot Covid-19 vaccine spurs a more than threefold increase in antibodies against the coronavirus, as the drugmaker seeks U.S. regulatory approval for a third injection.

The use of Pfizer Inc. and German partner BioNTech SE’s widely used Covid-19 vaccine marginally increases the risk of heart inflammation, but the risk is higher among those infected with the coronavirus, a study published on Aug. 25 in the New England Journal of Medicine showed.