Representatives with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer are set to meet Monday with U.S. Biden Administration staff to discuss authorization of a third shot of COVID-19 vaccine as a booster.

The meeting comes as the Delta variant of the virus is surging across the United States.

Doctor Anthony Fauci is chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden.

He says at the moment, the research does not point to the need for a booster.

“The bad news is that we have a very nasty variant, the good news is that we have a vaccine that works against it,” Fauci explained.

Twenty-five U.S. states are now facing a steady increase in new cases.

But the daily vaccination rate across the U.S. is dropping, down 85 per cent since April.

Currently only about 48-percent of eligible people are fully vaccinated. Some parts of the country have far lower immunization rates, and in those places the delta variant is surging.

Here in Canada, just shy of 43-percent of eligible residents have been fully vaccinated with two doses. In Toronto, 60-percent of eligible residents have been fully vaccinated.