FDA backs Pfizer booster vaccinations for seniors, those in high-risk jobs

Nurse Amber Boyd administers the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a clinic for homeless people in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Pics/AFP

The US moved a step closer Wednesday to offering booster doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine to senior citizens and others at high risk from the virus as the Food and Drug Administration signed off on the targeted use of extra shots.

The FDA authorized booster doses for Americans who are 65 and older, younger adults with underlying health conditions and those in jobs that put them at high risk for Covid-19. The ruling represents a drastically scaled back version of the Biden administration's sweeping plan to give third doses to nearly all American adults to shore up their protection amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. However, more regulatory hurdles lie ahead before the dispensing of boosters can begin.

Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention opened a two-day meeting Wednesday to make their own, more specific recommendations about who should get the extra shots and when. And in their first day of discussions, some experts were so perplexed by the questions surrounding the rationale for boosters that they suggested putting off a decision for a month in hopes of more evidence. The uncertainties were yet another reminder that the science surrounding boosters is more complicated than the Biden administration suggested when the president and his top aides rolled out their plan at the White House last month.

The FDA decision Wednesday was expected after the agency's own panel of advisers last week overwhelmingly rejected the Biden plan. The panel instead recommended boosters only for those most vulnerable to severe cases of Covid-19. FDA acting commissioner Dr Janet Woodcock said in a statement that the FDA authorization would allow for boosters in health care workers, teachers, grocery workers and those in homeless shelters or prisons. "As we learn more about the safety and effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines, including the use of a booster dose, we will continue to evaluate the rapidly changing science and keep the public informed," Woodcock said.

Covid-19 may be linked to Guillain-Barre

Infection with the virus that causes Covid-19 may be associated with risk of developing Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder in which a person's immune system attacks the nerves, causing muscle weakness and occasionally paralysis, a study published on Thursday said.

Vaxxed pregnant women pass antibodies to babies

Women who receive the mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in pregnancy pass high levels of antibodies to their babies, says a study. The study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology Maternal-Fetal Medicine on Wednesday, was conducted on 36 newborns whose mothers received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. The research team led by NYU Grossman School of Medicine found all infants had protective antibodies at birth.

5,45,201
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

22,93,73,963
Total no. of cases worldwide

47,05,111
Total no. of deaths worldwide

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