With public health officials acknowledging the rapidly waning effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, the Biden administration is seeking immediate expansion of authorization for booster shots to all adults, according to an internal source.

Axios, citing a source familiar with the planning, reported the data “is clear that vaccine effectiveness has waned over time.”

Biden’s top coronavirus adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, acknowledged to Axios that as “every month goes by, the immunity wanes more and more.”

“So as time goes by, you’re going to see more vaccinated people” becoming more vulnerable to the virus, he said.

And Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, indicated the booster, a third shot, won’t be the last one.

“In my opinion boosters are ultimately going to become a part of the standard regimen and not just a bonus,” he said.

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that only 36% of Americans 65 and older have received a booster shot.

Axios said that last summer, the Biden administration had planned to recommend that most adults get a booster shot eight months after their initial round.

But the FDA and the CDC narrowed the booster shots to the more vulnerable populations and shrank the interval to six months.

Axios said some states are reporting a rise in “breakthrough” cases, vaccinated people who contract COVID-19. But there is no reliable national data on how many current hospitalizations and deaths are among vaccinated people.

White House: ‘Push businesses to move forward’
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court ordered a halt to President Biden’s vaccine mandate on larger private businesses, but the White House last week told businesses to move ahead with the plan anyway.

Biden on Sept. 9 announced the requirement that businesses with 100 or more employees ensure that their workers are either fully vaccinated — meaning two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine — or submit weekly a negative COVID test to enter the workplace.

“People should not wait (for the outcome of the lawsuit),” Biden Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at the White House briefing Nov. 9.

“What we continue to advocate from here is to push businesses to move forward with their policies now.”

She described the mandate as “an obligation that the Department of Labor has to protect workers who face grave danger.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ordered a temporary halt on Nov. 7, ruling the complaint by states and private individuals gives “cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the Mandate.”

The complaint against the federal government contends the mandates are an unconstitutional delegation of power to the executive branch by Congress, exceeding the authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which will enforce the requirements.

The Biden administration has delayed the deadline for compliance until Jan. 4 and argued the pause is “premature” and “would likely cost dozens or even hundreds of lives per day.”

David Vladeck, a professor of law at Georgetown University, told CNBC he believes there’s a “high probability” that the case will end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.