Washington Health Dept recommends third COVID vaccine dose for people with low immunity

The Washington Department of Health on Saturday recommended a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for people with severely weakened immune systems. This recommendation by the health Department comes as the delta variant surges in the country. 

Earlier on Thursday, the USA Food and Drug Administration announced that immunocompromised Americans could get an extra dose of Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for better protection. The FDA''s announcement applies to about 3% of US adults who are especially vulnerable because of organ transplants, certain cancers or other disorders. Several other countries, including France and Israel, have similar recommendations. 

About 1.1 million people already have gotten at least a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines on their own, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed, although it's not clear how many did so because they had weakened immune systems.

COVID-19 situation in US

The US in April announced that those who are fully vaccinated can remove their masks if alone or in a small group of vaccinated people. This announcement by the US State Department was made after the country had successfully vaccinated over 95 million Americans. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the US has recorded over 35,018,600 positive cases, out of which 29,406,202 have successfully recovered, and 624,983 have died. Currently, the total number of active COVID-19 cases in the country is 4,987,415. 

Image Credit: AP