U.S. FDA advisers recommend COVID-19 boosters for 65 and older after rejecting broad approval

- Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted yesterday to recommend COVID19 vaccine booster shots for Americans 65 and older and those at high risk of severe illness, after overwhelmingly rejecting a call for broader approval.

The panel also recommended that the FDA include healthcare workers and others at high risk of occupational exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19, such as teachers.

Despite the narrowed scope of the proposed authorization, the panel's recommendation would cover most Americans who got their shots in the earliest stages of the U.S. vaccination campaign.

"Today was an important step forward in providing better protection to Americans from COVID-19," White House spokesperson Kevin Munoz said. "We stand ready to provide booster shots to eligible Americans once the process concludes at the end of next week," he said.

The FDA is expected to make its decision on the third round of shots soon. It is not bound by the panel's recommendation but will take it into consideration.

Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease expert at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the panel, said the recommendation was "a step back" from the Biden administration's recommendation of widespread boosters starting Sept. 20.

"That is not this. This is: 'We're going to test the water, one foot at a time,'" said Offit, who voted "no" on the initial question of widespread use of boosters and "yes" on the more modest offering of vaccines for those at higher risk.

By a vote of 16 to 2, members of the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee declined to recommend a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to anyone age 16 and older who received their second shot at least six months earlier.