FDA Advisors Leave Door Open To Mix and Match COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters

Discussion also reopened the debate on allowing universal boosting with mRNA vaccines, with advisors giving FDA more leeway to allow some younger Americans to get an additional mRNA shot regardless of their occupation or underlying health conditions.

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Some VRBPAC members felt a small NIH study was enough to permit an EUA for heterologous boosting. • Source: Alamy

Some of the US Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisors seemed comfortable with permitting the agency to allow heterologous boosting of COVID-19 vaccines at a 15 October meeting, with a few expressing an urgency for the decision to be made, likely giving the agency enough support to move forward with an adjustment to the relevant emergency use authorizations without additional data.

The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee heard a presentation on study results from the National Institutes of Health on 15 October that suggested potential benefits to using a different vaccine for the booster to better increase antibody response, particularly for those who received Johnson & Johnson’s adenovirus COVID-19 vaccine

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