CORONA FOREVER: Moderna Pushes FDA to Authorize More Shots
While much of the world’s attention has been focused on the all-too-familiar tragedy playing out in Ukraine, there are still pandemic troubles to be found in certain parts of the world.
In China, the highly-contagious omicron variant has arrived with aplomb, forcing some of the enormous country’s major cities to revert back to lockdown mode. Europe’s case numbers are on the rise as well, which has promoted US officials to begin to worry that a resurgence of the virus could be on its way.
This also has one of the pandemic’s leading vaccine manufacturers requesting a little assistance from the US government.
Drugmaker Moderna asked the FDA on Thursday to authorize a fourth shot of its COVID-19 vaccine as a booster dose for all adults, the AP reports. The request is broader than rival pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s request earlier this week for the regulator to approve a booster shot for all seniors. In a press release, the company said its request for approval for all adults was made “to provide flexibility” to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and medical providers to determine the “appropriate use” of a second booster dose of the mRNA vaccine, “including for those at higher risk of COVID-19 due to age or comorbidities.”
Moderna appeared to suggest that this was a data-driven request, and not a financial one.
Moderna said its request for an additional dose was based on “recently published data generated in the United States and Israel following the emergence of Omicron.” On Tuesday, Pfizer and its partner BioNTech asked US regulators to authorize an additional booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccine for seniors, saying data from Israel suggests older adults would benefit.
The request comes as the White House urges Congress to approve more funding to fight the largely-waning pandemic.
