A group of top vaccine experts is meeting on Thursday and Friday to consider whether people who got the COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson should receive booster shots.
The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will make recommendations to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which will ultimately decide whether to allow the boosters, and for whom. The FDA isn’t bound by the experts’ advice, but usually follows it.
The virtual meetings are scheduled to be all-day affairs, running from 8:30 a.m. to about 5 p.m. on both days. The FDA broadcasts them online via YouTube and other platforms.
Here’s what to expect:
After the panel votes, the FDA will decide whether to authorize the proposed boosters. If the agency allows them, a separate group of experts that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will then meet and make further recommendations on how the shots should be given, and to whom. Currently, a meeting of that group is expected next week.
The CDC director will then decide whether to adopt the advisory panel’s recommendations. The agency doesn’t have to adhere to the guidance — it opted not to adopt some recommendations on the Pfizer booster — though it often does.
Once the CDC signs off, doctors, drugstores and other immunization sites will be able to begin giving the shots.