COVID Vaccine Authorization Changes Without Advisory Committee Becoming More Common

Decision to allow boosters for 12- to 15-year-old recipients of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will go before CDC's ACIP, but like several other recent changes for COVID vaccines, the US FDA opted to skip its advisory committee.

Vaccine booster
The change in the time between the Pfizer/BioNTech primary series and booster may create more confusion for recipients and providers. • Source: Alamy

In what is becoming a familiar routine, the US Food and Drug Administration expanded the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer Inc./BioNTech SE coronavirus vaccine to allow more groups to receive an additional dose, as well as shortened the time between the primary series and third shot, without an advisory committee meeting.

Children age 12 to 15 now are eligible for a booster shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, the FDA announced on...

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