Moderna, J&J make case for COVID boosters ahead of FDA panel

Vaccine makers prepare to present data that supports the need for booster shots. The US Food and Drug Administration will meet this week to weigh the evidence for booster doses for each the two vaccines.

Hartford Hospital received 8800 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Monday. Twenty-one health departments across the state will be getting their doses of the Moderna vaccine Wednesday to begin vaccinating first responders and health care workers. (Brad Horrigan/Hartford Courant/TNS)

by Bloomberg News

Published: October 13, 2021

Vaccine makers prepare to present data that supports the need for booster shots. The US Food and Drug Administration will meet this week to weigh the evidence for booster doses for each the two vaccines.

(TNS) — Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson said that data they’ve gathered supports the need for booster shots for their COVID-19 vaccines, ahead of a key regulatory meeting later this week.

A panel of scientific experts who advise the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on vaccines is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday to weigh the evidence for booster doses for each of the two vaccines. The regulator has already authorized a booster for the COVID shot made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE for those 65 and older and other at-risk adults.

The Biden administration has been pushing to make booster shots available to as many people as possible after a wave of infections over the summer tied to the delta variant. In addition, some studies have indicated that protection afforded by the U.S.-authorized shots wanes over time. In documents prepared for the meeting, both companies said the supplemental doses would be advisable after six months.

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