As expected, a committee of independent advisors for the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously (19-to-0) Thursday afternoon in favor of authorizing a booster dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for certain groups.
The groups flagged for boosting are individuals aged 65 and older, people ages 18 to 64 who are at risk of severe COVID-19 due to health concerns, and those 18 to 64 who are at risk of COVID-19 due to frequent institutional or occupational exposures, such as health care and essential workers. These are the same groups that were previously authorized to get a Pfizer/BioNTech booster.
As with the Pfizer/BioNTech boosters, the Moderna boosters are to be given six months or longer after the first two doses of Moderna’s mRNA vaccine.