The United States Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) is set to tweak the emergency use authorisation granted to
the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to allow for people with a compromised
immune system to get a third dose, NBC News reported quoting sources.

This will not include fully vaccinated
people, as both vaccines have proven to be highly effective in preventing
hospitalisation and death in them. A Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) advisory group will meet on Friday – they are likely to vote
on whether to recommend a third dose in immunocompromised people.

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The CDC vote can happen only after the FDA
takes regulatory action, like amending the emergency use authorisation. The CDC
advisors had met in July and suggested that adults with compromised immune
systems get extra doses.

Immunocompromised patients include organ
transplant recipients, people undergoing cancer treatment and people with HIV,
among others. The CDC estimates that around 2.7% of American adults are immunocompromised.

Organ transplant recipients have to
medically supress their immune systems so that the bodies do not reject new
organs. A study had earlier found that a majority of these people did not
develop COVID-19 antibodies after getting vaccinated, while some developed very
low levels of protection.

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The study, conducted by the Johns Hopkins
University, found that a third dose led to an increase in antibodies. The
immunity boost will provide relief to those people who couldn’t develop
immunity from the first two shots, as doctors continue to advise such people to
wear masks and follow social distancing.

Last week, the Mississippi Department of
Health recommended immunocompromised people to take a third dose of the
vaccine, despite federal officials having not cleared it yet.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden had said
last month that children under the age of 12 may become eligible for COVID-19
vaccination by August or later in the fall.