The FDA authorized a 2nd booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for older adults but did so without convening a meeting of its panel of vaccine experts first, a move that angered healthcare experts skeptical of a fourth shot’s utility.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized a second booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for older adults and people as young as 12 with certain immune deficiencies but did so without convening a meeting of its panel of vaccine experts first, a move that angered healthcare experts skeptical of a fourth shot’s utility.
FDA press officer Abigail Capobianco said the agency didn't consult the committee because the fourth shot did not raise"new scientific questions." The authorization comes as the White House and congressional Democrats spar with Republicans over a new $15 billion round of COVID-19 funding. Democrats caution that the money is needed for testing, vaccines, treatments, and research and development, while Republicans counter the money can be redirected from other sources, including previously approved COVID-19 spending.
Not all public health experts questioned the move. University of California, Irvine, professor Andrew Noymer said he wasn't sure why the FDA may have bypassed the panel but added that it wasn't a"red flag" for him.
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