The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expert panel recommended on Friday (17th) that Pfizer’s application for the third dose of vaccine in the United States should be rejected, and only approved to be administered to groups over 65 years of age and high-risk groups. Although this recommendation is not legally binding, However, it will influence the results of the FDA’s deliberations in the next few days, and may hit the Biden administration’s plan to add a third dose on a large scale as soon as next week.
The FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted an overwhelming number of votes of 16 to 2 against Pfizer’s application for authorization of the third dose for adults over the age of 16 in the United States. The reasons include that the current supporting data is still weak, and Some people (such as young people) may be at risk from the third dose.
The FDA usually follows the recommendations of the expert panel, although there are exceptions. The White House said earlier on Friday that as long as the health agency approves the third dose, it will start delivering Pfizer’s vaccine next week.
VRBPAC also unanimously agreed to recommend the third dose of Pfizer vaccine for senior citizens over 65 and high-risk groups. Experts did not clearly define what is a high-risk group, but said that medical personnel and teachers who are exposed to the threat of the virus due to occupational exposure suggest that they should pursue the third dose.
The voting results were announced late in the US stock market. Pfizer (PFE-US) closed down 1.28% on Friday, its partner BioNTech (BNTX-US) fell 3.61%, and Modena (MRNA-US), whose data has been submitted for review, fell 2.41. %.
The large-scale administration of the third dose of vaccine has caused much controversy among scientists. Two FDA officials who attended the meeting on Friday said they have reservations about the need for ordinary people to administer boosters. White House epidemic prevention consultant Anthony Fauci, who publicly supports the booster, said that he was not surprised by the results of the expert deliberations.
Pfizer can still provide more information to strive for a large-scale third dose of the vaccine across the United States. The company said in a statement: “Thanks to the FDA advisory committee. We still believe that the benefits of the third dose of vaccine for more people will Improve the issues raised by the committee in the meeting today and cooperate with the FDA.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will also meet next week to discuss whether to recommend a third dose of Pfizer vaccine.
