FDA Set To Clear Third Shot Of Covid-19 Vaccine For People With Weak Immune Systems

FDA decision to expand the emergency use of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines aims to better protect people with immune deficiencies.

Covid-19 Vaccine | File Image

New Delhi: With more and more cases of the highly contagious Delta variant being reported across the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is likely to authorise a third shot of the Covid-19 vaccine for people with weak immune systems, The New York Times reported. 

The decision to expand the emergency use of both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines aims to better protect people with immune deficiencies.

Quoting an official familiar with the decision, the NYT report said people who have had solid organ transplants and those with others whose immune systems are similarly compromised are most likely to benefit from an additional shot of the vaccine. 

The authorisation is likely soon.

In the US, NYT said, about 3 percent of people have weakened immune systems due to a variety of reasons — from cancer to the use of steroids.

An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is scheduled to meet on Friday, will consider the FDA’s decision to authorise a third shot for a select category of people. 

Though the FDA can independently take a decision on such matters, medical practitioners usually wait to act until the CDC gives its opinion.

France, Germany, and Hungary have offered additional doses of the vaccine to people with poor immune responses.

 A third dose of the Moderna vaccine significantly raised antibody levels against Covid-19 in organ transplant patients, a Bloomberg report said, citing a comparison of an extra shot to a placebo in people with weak immunity. 

According to the report, the FDA is closely monitoring data on such studies of additional doses in immunocompromised people.