Moderna and Johnson & Johnson support Covid-19 vaccine boosters

The FDA panel will meet on Thursday and Friday to weigh the evidence for booster doses

Moderna and Johnson & Johnson said that data they’ve gathered supports the need for booster shots for their Covid-19 vaccines, ahead of a key regulatory meeting later this week.

A panel of scientific experts who advise the US Food and Drug Administration on vaccines is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday to weigh the evidence for booster doses for each of the two vaccines. The regulator has cleared a booster for the Covid shot made by Pfizer and BioNTech for those 65 and older and other at-risk adults.

The Biden administration has been pushing to make booster shots available to as many people as possible after a wave of infections over the summer tied to the delta variant. 

In addition, some studies have indicated that protection afforded by the US-authorized shots wanes over time. In documents prepared for the meeting, both companies said the supplemental doses would be advisable after six months.