US FDA clears Pfizer Covid-19 booster for older and at-risk Americans | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Food
    • Habitat
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
December 07, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Food
    • Habitat
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2023
US FDA clears Pfizer Covid-19 booster for older and at-risk Americans

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
22 September, 2021, 08:45 pm
Last modified: 23 September, 2021, 12:30 pm

Related News

  • Strengthened Bangladesh-US collaboration holds promising trade opportunities: BGMEA president
  • Trump: I won't be a dictator if I become U.S. president again
  • Despite Gaza death toll soaring, U.S. unlikely to rethink weapons supplies to Israel
  • US announces visa bans after warning Israel over West Bank violence
  • The Pentagon wants to root out shoddy drugs. The FDA is in its way.

US FDA clears Pfizer Covid-19 booster for older and at-risk Americans

The panel voted against the proposition that boosters were needed by everyone but said evidence showed they were helpful to older people and those at high risk

Reuters
22 September, 2021, 08:45 pm
Last modified: 23 September, 2021, 12:30 pm
Photo: Collected.
Photo: Collected.

The US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized a booster dose of the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for those 65 and older, all people at high risk of severe disease, and others who are regularly exposed to the virus.

The decision paves the way for a quick rollout of the booster shots as soon as this week for millions of people who had their second dose of the vaccine at least six months ago.

The change to the vaccine's emergency use authorization will allow boosters for groups such as health-care workers, teachers and day care staff, grocery workers and those in homeless shelters or prisons, FDA acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Pfizer had asked the FDA to expand its vaccine approval to include boosters for all people aged 16 and older and presented data last week to an outside FDA panel of advisers that it said showed waning immunity over time.

The panel voted against the proposition that boosters were needed by everyone but said evidence showed they were helpful to older people and those at high risk.

Dr. William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), said the FDA's statement was more expansive in who it included as eligible for boosters when compared to the panel's recommendation.

"Very broad indeed, especially that 'among others.' That could essentially give the green light for giving boosters to a very substantial proportion of the previously vaccinated adult population," said Schaffner, who serves as the NFID's liaison to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

ACIP could vote Thursday on the use of a third shot of the vaccine, an agency official said at a public meeting of the panel on Wednesday.

"Tomorrow's ACIP meeting at the CDC will be focused on turning this into an official recommendation for implementation," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.

The FDA authorization was "generally in line" with the advisory panel vote, said Dr. Jesse Goodman, an infectious disease expert at Georgetown University in Washington and former chief scientist at the FDA.

"These are pretty broad categories that give a fair amount of latitude to the judgment of healthcare providers and people providing immunizations," he added.

President Joe Biden and eight top health officials including Woodcock announced in August the government's intention to roll out booster shots for people aged 16 and older this week, pending approval by the FDA and CDC.

But the advisory panel said there was not enough evidence to support booster shots for that population and also sought more safety data. The FDA does not have to follow the advisory panel's recommendation, but often does.

The agency could revisit the issue for a broader authorization in the future.

"This first FDA authorization of a Covid-19 vaccine booster is a critical milestone in the ongoing fight against this disease," said Pfizer chief Albert Bourla. The company had argued that boosters are needed for the general population.

Top FDA members have been split on the need for boosters for the general population, with Woodcock backing them while some of the agency's senior scientists argued that current evidence does not support them.

Some countries, including Israel and Britain, have already rolled out Covid-19 booster campaigns. The United States authorized extra shots for people with compromised immune systems last month and over 2 million people have already received a third shot, CDC data showed.

World+Biz / USA

USA / CDC / Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Buyer's rep removes sanction clause from RMG LC
    Buyer's rep removes sanction clause from RMG LC
  • File photo of BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi
    No hartal or blockade, BNP to form human chains on 10 Dec: Rizvi
  • Photo: Collected
    Dhaka expressway construction crane hits train; rail link with capital snapped

MOST VIEWED

  • Bangladeshi RMG exporters alarmed as buyers tag conditions over trade restriction fears
    Bangladeshi RMG exporters alarmed as buyers tag conditions over trade restriction fears
  • Illustration: TBS
    Troubled banks categorised, new deposits, loans barred for weakest
  • A portion of the 100-kilometre Dohazari to Cox's Bazar railway line. Photo: Mohammad Minhaj Uddin
    Another Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar train set for launch on 1 Jan
  • File Photo of the US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas. Photo: Collected
    US Ambassador Peter Haas holds meeting with Biman officials
  • Bank deposits in Bangladesh surge on higher interest, lower investment
    Bank deposits in Bangladesh surge on higher interest, lower investment
  • Photo: AFP
    Bangladesh lose 4 wickets after decent start in first session

Related News

  • Strengthened Bangladesh-US collaboration holds promising trade opportunities: BGMEA president
  • Trump: I won't be a dictator if I become U.S. president again
  • Despite Gaza death toll soaring, U.S. unlikely to rethink weapons supplies to Israel
  • US announces visa bans after warning Israel over West Bank violence
  • The Pentagon wants to root out shoddy drugs. The FDA is in its way.

Features

Hamas-Israel war: What really happened on 7 October?

Hamas-Israel war: What really happened on 7 October?

12h | Panorama
UN workers arrive to distribute aid to Palestinians, who have fled their homes due to Israeli strikes and take shelter in a UN-run school, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on 23 October 2023. Photo: Reuters

When UN and its agencies lack much agency

12h | Panorama
Sketch: TBS

How Khan Farhana built a 300,000-strong LinkedIn community

23h | Pursuit
Photo: Courtesy

Fostering emotional intelligence and classroom harmony: The power of a complaint box

1d | Pursuit

More Videos from TBS

Deepening dollar crisis in Bangladesh: Unveiling causes

Deepening dollar crisis in Bangladesh: Unveiling causes

1h | TBS Round Table
Current account surplus drops by 80% in one month

Current account surplus drops by 80% in one month

3h | TBS Economy
foodpanda creates job opportunities for more than 1.5 lac riders

foodpanda creates job opportunities for more than 1.5 lac riders

2h | TBS Stories
Messi named Time Magazine's 'Athlete of the Year'

Messi named Time Magazine's 'Athlete of the Year'

8h | TBS SPORTS
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net