FDA advisers to vote on Pfizer's COVID-19 booster shots

A panel of the Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisers is meeting Friday to discuss third doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, a key first step towards the Biden administration's plans to initiate the U.S.' first booster shots later this month.

The members of the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) are scheduled to vote by 4:45 p.m. over whether there is enough data to support changing Pfizer's full approval to include an additional shot of the vaccine, known by the brand name Comirnaty, six months after Americans received the second shot in the two-dose vaccination. The FDA has previously convened its advisers for other key vaccine decisions — last year it met on whether to grant emergency authorization to Pfizer's vaccine. While not binding, a supportive vote from the panel could lend legitimacy to the FDA's ultimate decision over whether to approve Pfizer's booster dose application.

"If they say, 'we don't think there's enough data to do a booster,' then so be it," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president's chief medical adviser, told Kaiser Health News. But he added, "I think that would be a mistake, to be honest with you."