Vaccine latest: Nursing home mandates, booster shots

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will require nursing home staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Facilities that do not comply could lose federal Medicare and Medicaid funding. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization ripped the Biden administration for recommending coronavirus booster shots to Americans, saying those vaccine doses should go to countries that need them more.

When will boosters be available? The plan calls for an extra dose eight months after people get their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. The doses could begin the week of Sept. 20. Data show the vaccines still provide strong protection from COVID-19 at least six months after the second dose. However, the protection gradually declines each month.

Dig deeper: Listen to Dr. Charles Horton and Mary Reichard discuss natural immunity from COVID-19 infection on The World and Everything in It podcast.