Amidst political pressures and dissension on multiple fronts, FDA and its panel of vaccine experts weighed the evidence and worked to ensure a science-based decision on whether to authorize additional shots of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to further protect those that already received the recommended doses. The day-long meeting on Sept. 17, 2021 of FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) concluded with the panel recommending that a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine be authorized only for people over age 65, plus those at high risk of infection related to occupation, such as health care workers and teachers.
