FDA to approve booster for immunocompromised within days: reports

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could authorize a COVID-19 booster shot for immunocompromised individuals as early as Thursday, NBC News reported.

The FDA would amend the emergency use authorizations for the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, and it would pertain only to immunocompromised individuals who have already received two shots of either vaccine, according to NBC and CNN.

“The FDA is closely monitoring data as it becomes available from studies administering an additional dose of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines to immunocompromised individuals,” the FDA told The Hill in a statement. “The agency, along with the CDC, is evaluating potential options on this issue, and will share information in the near future.”

If the FDA decides to amend its authorization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) vaccine advisory group would then hold a vote to determine whether it should recommend giving out a booster shot to those who are immunocompromised. 

That could happen on Friday given that the committee is slated to meet that day and expected to talk about “updates on additional doses in immunocompromised individuals.” 

It is unclear which immunocompromised individuals would be authorized to receive a booster. According to the CDC, around 2.7 percent of adults are immunocompromised. 

Health officials have signaled in recent days that a booster shot for those with compromised immune systems was in the works. President Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said last week that the Biden administration was trying to get a third shot to immunocompromised people “as quickly as possible.”

“It is extremely important for us to move to get those individuals their boosters, and we are now working on that and will make that be implemented as quickly as possible because for us and for the individuals involved it is a very high priority,” Fauci said during a White House briefing last week.