US: Pfizer and Moderna request use of COVID-19 booster vaccine shots for all adults

A week after vaccine manufacturer Pfizer urged the Food and Drug Administration to approve the vaccine for all adults, drugmaker Moderna has made a similar request on Wednesday, reported NBC News. According to the media reports, the vaccine manufacturer urged the administration to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine booster to all people ages 18 and older. Currently, the US drug authorities allowed the shot for administering people above 65 and those living in long-term care facilities. For adults, the drug authorities restricted the vaccine for those who are at high risk of exposure to the COVID-19 because of their duties.

If the FDA approves the administration of the booster shots, it would be administered after six months of taking the first dose and would be applicable for all adults. According to the sources of the news organisation, the FDA would authorise the use of Pfizer booster shots in the next 1-2 weeks. When the media outlet asked Dr Jesse Goodman, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Georgetown University Medical Center about administering booster shots to all adults, he said the question remains to be answered by the incumbent drug authorities.

"By and large, healthy, younger people who have been vaccinated are handling breakthrough infections well," NBC News quoted Goodman, a former chief scientist with the FDA. "People have to understand proffering the third dose of COVID-19 vaccine to healthy young people is not going to alter the pandemic," he said. "The way we're going to do that is by getting unvaccinated people immunised."

Moderna has a negative effect on some people

Notably, the Moderna vaccine has shown some "negative" effects in adults. It does have a small but elevated risk for "myocarditis" — a type of heart inflammation, particularly in young men. "These cases are typically mild. While we don't fully understand the reasons and the aetiology behind this, we think that it may be driven by testosterone," the news organisation quoted Moderna's chief medical officer, Dr Paul Burton as saying. Earlier in September, Moderna Inc and its Japanese partner recalled more than 1 million doses of the US drug maker's coronavirus vaccine after confirming that contamination was reported. The country claimed tiny particles of stainless steel were found in the vaccine. 

(Image: AP)