EU panel backs booster shots of Pfizer, Moderna

A European Union advisory committee endorsed the use of a third dose of the Covid19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna for people with severely weakened immune systems.

The panel also concluded that booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine, developed with Biontech SE, may be considered for all adults at least six months after their second vaccine. For the immunocompromised, extra doses of either shot may be given at least 28 days after the second one, it said on Monday.

The European Medicines Agency committee is following the US and other countries with ample vaccine supplies in allocating doses or considering the move for booster shots. The US Food and Drug Administration may soon authorise half-dose boosters of the Moderna vaccine, setting the stage to further widen the US booster campaign after earlier authorisation of the extra Pfizerbiontech dose.

Concern about withering Covid protection prompted Israel — one of the first countries to start vaccinating its population — to begin administering booster shots months ago.