A THIRD or “booster” vaccine against COVID-19 is recommended (Shutterstock).

Three times may be a charm, but it also comes with a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Protection.

Booster shots – in most cases a third inoculation with a vaccine against coronavirus – were recommended Wednesday for all Americans by the CDC. The extra “jab” should be taken eight months after a person gets a second Moderna or Pfizer dose, a process that could begin the week of Sept. 20, according to the Associated Press.

“Our plan is to protect the American people, to stay ahead of this virus,” said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. The agency makes the recommendation as studies indicate that new variants of the virus, such as Delta, are becoming more contagious. Nevertheless, the Food and Drug Administration will consider issues of safety and effectiveness of a third shot.

Such boosters would only be called for if the vaccines now in place didn’t slow or stop the rising number of hospitalizations, according to The New York Times.

“Feeling sick as a dog and laid up in bed, but not in the hospital with severe COVID, is not enough reason” to push for booster shots, Dr. Celine Grounder, an infectious disease specialist, told The Times.

Biden: U.S. troops will finish evacuation

TALIBAN troops patrol Kabul in an American-made Humvee (Wikipedia/Voice of America).

American soldiers and Marines will stay in Afghanistan until the process of evacuations of Western civilians and persons who supported the now-defunct Kabul regime are completed, President Joe Biden said on Wednesday.

According to USA Today, 5,000 troops have been sent by the Pentagon to organize and provide security for airlifts that could include as many as 2,000 people a day.

In addition to Americans and Western allies, the United Nations will be evacuating about one-third of its staff because of “volatile conditions in the country.

One day after the new Taliban regime promised a more moderate governing hand than the one that controlled the nation a generation ago, at least five people were killed in the Kabul area by Taliban forces. Two were part of a protest in which an attempt was made to raise the Afghan national flag, instead of the Taliban banner.

United Press International reports that the gunmen first fired into the air, then into the demonstrators when they refused to disperse.

Another big wildfire grows quickly

The long, hot summer of wildfires in Northern California continues as a new blaze – the Caldor fire – has increased in size and ferocity and is prompting evacuations said to be as big as hundreds of thousands of people. It’s now the second-biggest wildfire in the U.S.

UPI is reporting that Caldor, located near Sacramento in El Dorado, has increased from 7,000 acres on Tuesday to over 30,000 acres on Wednesday. Fire officials say it’s “zero percent controlled” but it should be fully contained by the weekend.

Because of the wildfire, Pacific Gas & Electric stopped providing power to over 50,000 customers in 18 counties to prevent new fires from being started by power lines knocked down by high winds.

The nation’s largest wildfire, called Dixie, may not be fully contained until October, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Dixie is located in eastern California, near Reno.

“Daily News” is a summary of major news stories.