Pfizer and its COVID-19 vaccine partner, BioNTech, will seek emergency authorization from the FDA to administer a second booster shot to Americans 65 and older, according to The Washington Post.
The outlet notes that Pfizer and BioNTech may submit paperwork as soon as Tuesday afternoon. The documents will include “real world data” from Israel, where many seniors have already received a second booster.
“The decision from the FDA could come relatively quickly, especially if officials conclude the data is straightforward and does not have to be reviewed by a panel of outside vaccine experts,” writes The Post.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla previewed the need for a second booster in an interview that aired over the weekend on CBS News.
“Right now, the way that we have seen, it is necessary, a fourth booster right now. The protection that you are getting from the third, it is good enough, actually quite good for hospitalizations and deaths. It’s not that good against infections,” he said.
The Post adds:
In a separate move aimed at answering longer term questions about booster strategies, the FDA plans to convene its outside advisers in early April to consider whether there should be an October or November campaign to encourage some or all adults to get additional boosters and whether the shots should be the same as the current vaccine or retooled to counter new variants, according to a federal official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss administration plans.
The official said: “Would it make sense to have some kind of a booster campaign for all or a segment of the population in the fall to prevent a wave of infections” as the weather gets cold again?
COVID-19 infections have dropped dramatically in the past two months as the nation emerged from the throes of an intense wave triggered by the extremely contagious omicron variant. Pandemic precautions – like mask wearing and vaccine requirements – have been steadily rolled back.
But case numbers are increasing in China and Western Europe.
NBC News reports:
Disease experts in the U.S. say they are indeed watching Europe’s trends closely.
“There is certainly a risk that the U.S. could face another surge in cases, as Europe is seeing,” Dr. Gavin Yamey, a professor of global health and public policy at Duke University, said in an email. “We have lower rates of vaccination and booster coverage than many European nations, so a surge here could translate into rising hospitalizations.”
But experts aren’t ready to say definitively that a major new Covid wave is on the horizon globally, nor that there’s cause for immediate concern in the U.S. Rather, they believe it’s time to be vigilant — and to act pre-emptively.
“We should take the opportunity provided by the current lull to prepare for a possible further wave or variant of concern,” Yamey said. To do that, he added, the U.S. government should expand vaccination and booster coverage and ensure high-quality masks and rapid tests are freely available.