|
 Over the past several months, the FDA has authorized Pfizer's
boosters for people who are immunocompromised, those who are aged 65
and above, all people at high risk of severe disease, and people who
are regularly exposed to the virus.
Pfizer previously requested authorization for all people aged 16 or
over, but the FDA held back on extending boosters to everyone,
partly because there was not enough evidence of waning immunity or
of the benefit of boosters in younger people.
Pfizer said it would present data from a large clinical study which
last month showed that a booster dose of its vaccine was 95.6%
effective against the coronavirus when compared to a vaccinated
group that did not get the third shot.
The company and U.S. health officials have argued that boosters
prevent hospitalizations and deaths and that they can slow mild
infections as well.
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration in August announced plans
to roll out booster doses for all adults in September, before the
FDA's advisers had recommended a limited authorization.
[to top of second column] |
 Moderna is likely to file a
request with the U.S. FDA to broaden emergency
use authorization of its boosters in all adults,
CNBC reported on Tuesday, citing sources
familiar with the matter, but said the timing of
the filing was not known yet.
Moderna's booster doses have been cleared for
use in a similar group of patients to Pfizer's,
and a booster shot of Johnson & Johnson's
COVID-19 vaccine has been authorized for use as
well. Roughly 25 million Americans had received
a booster, as of Monday.
Moderna did not immediately respond to a Reuters
request for comment.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru;Editing
by Vinay Dwivedi and Devika Syamnath)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content
 |
