Both the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration approved booster shots from Pfizer and Moderna for all adults Friday. Before Friday, only the Johnson & Johnson booster shot was approved for all adults. The Moderna and Pfizer booster shots had only been approved for seniors, adults who live in long-term care facilities, adults with underlying medical conditions, and adults who work or live in high-risk settings.
“This emergency use authorization comes at a critical time as we enter the winter months and face increasing COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations across the country,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a news release announcing FDA approval of the company’s booster shot. “We thank the FDA for their review”. The video above shows the FDA’s vaccine chief discussing the booster shots.
As Bancel touched on, new COVID-19 cases have climbed steadily throughout the last two weeks, especially in states where colder weather is driving people indoors. Sparked by those worrying trends, at least ten states didn’t wait for federal officials to act before allowing all adults to get booster shots. Utah and Massachusetts joined that list in the past week.
Moderna and Pfizer expressed their confidence in their respective booster shots Friday. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech studied 10,000 adults and found that its booster restored protection against symptomatic infections to about 95%, even while the extra-contagious delta variant was surging.
“Today’s FDA decision is supported by clinical data showing robust immune responses following a booster dose of our vaccine, exceeding what has been seen even after the completion of the highly-effective two-dose primary schedule,” BioNTech CEO and Co-founder Ugur Sahin said in a news release. BioNTech collaborated with Pfizer on its vaccine. “These data suggest a booster dose of our vaccine has the potential to maintain a high-level of protection against tested variants, including delta.”
An advisory panel to the CDC supported the FDA’s decision later Friday afternoon, after discussing the safety and usefulness of Pfizer and Moderna boosters. The video above also shows clips from the CDC panel meeting. Final approval from the CDC itself came after that. However, the CDC only recommended boosters for those 50 years and older or living in long-term care settings.
