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A panel of expert advisers from the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously to recommend allowing COVID-19 booster injections for people 65 years of age and older and for those at high risk of serious illness. The Pfizer booster must be given at least six months after the second dose, the panel said. The move marked a rebuke of President Joe Biden’s commitment to providing booster shots to all Americans in the near future. “The plan is for each adult to get a booster shot eight months after receiving your second injection,” Biden said last month, hoping the program would begin by Sept. 20. Although at the time the president warned health authorities would still need to approve the plan he seemed fairly certain. “Just remember,” he said, “as a simple rule of thumb: eight months after your second injection, give yourself a booster shot. “
Despite Biden’s earlier pledge, the expert panel voted 16-2 against approving a recall for anyone 16 and older. It recommended that those considered to be at high risk also include people at high risk to the virus due to their work, including healthcare workers and emergency responders. Officials say teachers could also be seen as part of this group. A final decision by the FDA on the booster injections is expected by next week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also expected to weigh in on the issue. The panel did not address when those who have received vaccines manufactured by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson may be eligible for boosters.
The hours of debate leading up to the booster injection panel vote illustrate how science is still out of the question. Many committee members said there was not enough data to make a clear recommendation as to whether the benefits of a recall outweighed the risk to young adults. Beyond that calculation, Biden’s approval of universal booster shots had also been heavily criticized by global health groups calling on wealthy countries to refrain from administering third doses when much of the the world has yet to deliver the first doses to many of those at risk. population.
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