Biden Says COVID-19 Boosters Will Be Free

Vials labelled "AstraZeneca, Pfizer - Biontech, Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik V coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine" are seen in this illustration picture taken May 2, 2021. (Reuters)
Vials labelled "AstraZeneca, Pfizer - Biontech, Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik V coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine" are seen in this illustration picture taken May 2, 2021. (Reuters)
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Biden Says COVID-19 Boosters Will Be Free

Vials labelled "AstraZeneca, Pfizer - Biontech, Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik V coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine" are seen in this illustration picture taken May 2, 2021. (Reuters)
Vials labelled "AstraZeneca, Pfizer - Biontech, Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik V coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine" are seen in this illustration picture taken May 2, 2021. (Reuters)

Booster shots to bolster immunity against the coronavirus would be free and accessible, US President Joe Biden said on Friday, one day after federal health agencies backed a booster rollout, and he pledged to get his own shot as soon as possible.

“Like your first and second shot. The booster shot is free and easily accessible,” Biden said at the White House.

Boosters will be available for people 65 and older, people at high risk of severe disease or of contracting COVID-19 through their work, and who were vaccinated six months ago with the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Biden said 60 million people were now eligible for the third shot, while also reiterating his appeal to the more than 70 million Americans who have not gotten a single shot.

“Listen to the voices of the unvaccinated Americans who are lying in hospital beds, taking their final breaths, saying... ‘If only I got vaccinated,’” Biden said. “People are dying and will die who don’t have to die.”

Biden had called for booster shots against the novel coronavirus to begin this week for all people once they were eight months out from vaccination, pending regulators’ approval.

But the US Food and Drug Administration and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only this week cleared the way for a subset, though they did broaden the time frame for eligibility by two months.

Biden administration officials have said they would follow the science on additional vaccines and had set the week of Sept. 20 as a goal in order to prepare for more inoculations.

Regulators’ decision applies only to the Pfizer vaccine and those who received it at least six months earlier. The FDA has yet to weigh Moderna Inc’s application for boosters and Johnson & Johnson Inc. has not yet filed an application.

“We’re also looking to the time when we’re going to be able to expand the booster shots, basically across the board,” Biden said.

Health experts have cautioned people against mixing various brands of vaccine, citing the lack of data.



Khamenei: Iran Doesn’t Have Proxies in the Region

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei meets a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei meets a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran
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Khamenei: Iran Doesn’t Have Proxies in the Region

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei meets a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei meets a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran

Iran’s supreme leader denied Sunday that militant groups around the region functioned as Tehran’s proxies, warning that if his country chose to “take action,” it would not need them anyway.
Ali Khamenei told a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran, “They keep saying that the Islamic Republic has lost its proxy forces in the region! This is another mistake. If one day we want to take action, we do not need a proxy force,” according to his website.
Khamenei then attacked the United States and its ally Israel over developments in Syria, and hinted at internal criticism of Iran's regional role.
“Their plans in Syria led to unrest and chaos, and now the United States, the Zionist regime, and their allies, feeling victorious, have resorted to extravagant claims and nonsensical talk, like the followers of devil,” he said.
The Iranian leader then quoted an American official as saying that Washington will “provide assistance and support to anyone causing unrest in Iran.”
Such statements, he said, are an example of the enemies’ boastful rhetoric. “The Iranian nation with their strong steps will trample underfoot any US mercenary who accepts this role,” he added.
Khamenei then addressed the Israelis saying, “You Zionists haven’t won; you’ve been defeated. Yes, you were able to advance a few kilometers in Syria where there wasn't even one soldier with a gun to stop you. That’s not victory. Indeed, the courageous, devout, young people of Syria will definitely expel you from there.”
He added, “You wretched people! Where have you won? Have you won in Gaza? Have you destroyed Hamas? Have you freed your own prisoners? Is this victory to kill over 40,000 people without being able to achieve even one of your goals? Despite killing Hassan Nasrallah, have you managed to eliminate Hezbollah in Lebanon?”
Khamenei also affirmed that Iran has not lost its proxies in the region.
“Iran doesn’t have proxy forces. Yemen fights due to their faith. Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fight because their beliefs compel them to do so,” he said.
IRGC commander Hossein Salami, five days after Assad's fall, had denied that Iran had lost its regional arms. “Some suggest the Iranian regime has lost its arms, but this is not true. The regime still has its arms,” he said.