FDA panel endorses Moderna booster for some groups

A panel of outside experts advised the Food and Drug Administration to authorize a booster dose of Moderna vaccine for people 65 and over, adults with risk factors for severe COVID-19 and those whose jobs put that at high risk

for serious complications of COVID-19, such as health care workers.

The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted in favor of allowing booster doses at least six months after the second dose of the vaccine.

Pfizer booster shots were approved last month for the same groups of recipients. As of Thursday, Georgia had administered 114,502 booster shots, according to DPH.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the FDA panel endorsed booster doses of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, saying they should be offered at least two months after

immunization.

Johnson & Johnson has asked the FDA for flexibility with its booster, arguing the extra dose adds important protection as early as two months after initial vaccination — but that it might work better if people wait until six months later.

The FDA’s advisers cited growing worried that recipients of J&J’s vaccination seem to be less protected than people who got two-dose Pfizer or Moderna options — and that most got that single dose many months ago.

Georgia’s Department of Public Health said it will wait for final decisions by federal

agencies before mobilizing to give out any boosters for recipients of the Moderna and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines, a spokeswoman said.

That final OK is not expected until this week at the earliest.