The FDA authorized Pfizer booster doses for Americans who are 65 and older, younger people with underlying health conditions and those in jobs that put them at high-risk for COVID-19.
The U.S. moved a step closer Wednesday to offering booster doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to senior citizens and others at high risk from the virus as the Food and Drug Administration signed off on the targeted use of the extra shots.
The FDA decision Wednesday was expected after the agency’s own panel of advisers last week overwhelmingly rejected the Biden plan. The panel instead recommended boosters only for those most vulnerable to severe cases of COVID-19. Under the FDA authorization, vaccinated Americans are eligible for a third dose six months after receiving their second Pfizer shot. That’s different than the Biden proposal announced in August, which called for boosters after eight months.
Ultimately the committee must decide who is considered at high enough risk for an extra dose. Data provided by Pfizer PFE, +0.07% and the Israeli government suggests a strong case for boosters in people 65 and older, but there is less evidence that extra shots provide much benefit for younger people with underlying health conditions.“We don’t have enough health care workers to take care of the unvaccinated,” said Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot of Vanderbilt University. “They just keep coming.
U.S. regulators will decide at a later date on boosters for people who have received the Moderna MRNA, +1.54% or Johnson & Johnson JNJ, -0.36% vaccines. They indicated the shots would not be recommended for people who got a different brand of vaccine initially.
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