Corona Virus. The third dose is not for everyone. Agency challenges Biden’s plans

A panel of 19 outside experts voted unanimously in favor of concluding that the benefits of an additional dose of BioNTech-Pfizer against Covid-19 outweigh the risks in people over 65 years of age and especially at risk of serious disease. This category also includes physicians and workers in other high-risk occupations.

At the same time, he rates the body negatively with 3-16 votes Using the third dose Among people over 16 years of age, which indicates insufficient research data.

Thus, the Food and Drug Administration’s Advisory Committee on Immunization and Related Biological Products questioned the plan Biden administration to provide additional doses of Pfizer and Moderna products to most Americans as of September 20.

During several hours of webcast deliberations, experts expressed dissatisfaction with insufficient data regarding the safety of the extra dose and Pfizer’s reliance on On data from IsraelWhich, in their opinion, may not be appropriate for the situation in the United States.

So far, the extra dose can only be taken by people with reduced immunity, although more than a million Americans have done so against the recommendation, according to official data, on their own. Israel recommended the third dose of the preparation for people over 40 years of age in August.

Also in August, the Biden administration announced that it plans to release a third dose of mRNA vaccines to all Americans age 16 and over eight months after the second injection. This period was later changed to six months.

That decision was endorsed, inter alia, by Acting FDA chief Janet Woodcock, as well as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) chief Rochelle Wallinsky and the chief medical advisor to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci. At the same time, they emphasized, as did Biden, implementation of these plans is dependent on approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The negative opinion of the commission is not binding on the agency, but it rarely contradicts the opinion of experts.

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