FDA panel endorses booster shot for J&J COVID-19 vaccine
The Hindu
The FDA’s advisory panel voted unanimously that the booster should be offered at least two months after people got their earlier shot.
U.S. health advisors endorsed a booster of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine on Friday, citing concern that Americans who got the single-dose shot aren’t as protected as those given two-dose brands.
J&J told the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that an extra dose adds important protection as early as two months after initial vaccination – but that it might work better if people wait until six months later. Unable to settle the best timing, the FDA’s advisory panel voted unanimously that the booster should be offered at least two months after people got their earlier shot.
“I think this frankly was always a two-dose vaccine,” said FDA advisor Dr. Paul Offit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “It would be hard to recommend this as a single-dose vaccine at this point.” The FDA isn’t bound by the recommendation as it makes a final decision – and adding to the debate’s complexity, new research also suggests that J&J recipients might have a stronger immune response if their booster dose is from a competing brand.