Leading US medical experts advising the government voted against recommending booster doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for everyone aged 16 and up, citing concerns about potential side-effects in younger age groups.
Following a day of data presentations and debate, the panel of vaccinologists, infectious disease researchers, and epidemiologists voted 16 to 2 against the measure, but left the door open to agreeing to a third shot for older people.
The decision represented a rebuke to President Joe Biden's administration, which had announced a plan to start rollout of booster shots this month before consulting its scientific agencies. The Food and Drug Administration struck a cautious tone in documents released ahead of Friday's meeting where an independent panel has been convened.
Peter Marks, a senior FDA scientist who opened the meeting, asked participants "to focus our deliberations on the science... and not on operational issues related to a booster campaign or on issues related to global vaccine equity."
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