A panel of US health advisors voted unanimously to recommend booster doses of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, without setting a firm time.
The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 19-0 to recommend the extra dose for all recipients of the J&J Janssen vaccine, 18 and older. The advisers cited growing worry that recipients of J&J’s vaccination seem to be less protected than people who got two-dose Pfizer or Moderna options — and that most got that single-dose many months ago.
Although the FDA isn’t bound by the vote, its ultimate decision could help expand the nation’s booster campaign. After FDA considers the committee’s advice, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‘s vaccine advisers will be asked to consider it.
Booster doses of Pfizer’s vaccine began last month for people at high risk of COVID-19, and the FDA advisory panel has recommended the same approach for Moderna recipients.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of the 188 million Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have received the Pfizer or Moderna options, while J&J recipients account for only about 15 million.
J&J presented results from a large study that found giving a second dose just two months after the first bumped protection against symptomatic COVID-19 to 94% from 70% in U.S. recipients. Giving that booster six months later instead prompted an even bigger jump in virus-fighting antibodies.
However, the US government has reaffirmed that all three vaccines continue to offer strong protection against hospitalisation and death from COVID-1. Still, the priority is getting first shots to the unvaccinated. But there’s a growing push to shore up protection against “breakthrough” infections and the extra-contagious delta variant of the coronavirus.
Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show close to 5% of fully vaccinated people — about 9 million people — have received booster shots, according to CNN reports.
With inputs from the Associated Press
