Americans Warned Against Skipping 2nd Vaccine Dose

It was considered a bit of a godsend when it first arrived, and now Americans appear to be looking a gift horse in the mouth in ever-larger numbers.

A number of vaccines have been developed, tested, and deployed against COVID-19 in recent weeks, thanks in no small part to the infrastructure of former President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, and President Joe Biden’s continued implementation of that plan.

But now a stunning new statistic is rearing its ugly head, and experts can’t quite pinpoint the reason for it.

The United States is now averaging more than 3 million vaccine shots every day. Even as the program is accelerating, new cases are stubbornly still on the rise.

Side effects coming with the second dose of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have increased so-called vaccine hesitancy. Some people are even hoping to get away with just one shot. But the National Institutes of Health is warning against stopping at one dose.

The experts were adamant.

“When you just leave it at one dose, the question is, how long does it last?” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of NIAID, said. “And when you’re dealing with variants, you’re in a tenuous zone.”

Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the vaccine education center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, urges people to get both shots despite the side effects associated with the second dose.

“Although it’s true the second dose can cause fatigue and fever and headache and muscle ache, it is a small price to pay to be protected against this disease for a more durable or longer length period of time,” Offit said.

President Biden announced this week that he was moving the date in which all adult Americans would be eligible for a vaccine by nearly two weeks, with that date now set for April 19th.