FDA reportedly mulling authorizing fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose

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Officials at the Food and Drug Administration are considering potentially authorizing an additional booster of the COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) as well as Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), according to the Wall Street Journal.

At present, individuals 12 and older who are moderately or severely immunocompromised are eligible for four COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Before the FDA allows the broader public to obtain an additional dose, the agency would require data demonstrating the ability of a fourth dose to boost immunity.

At present, however, it remains unclear whether the agency would recommend first-generation vaccines or recommend a variant-specific version.

Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna are working on omicron-based boosters.

CDC currently recommends all individuals who are at least 12 to obtain three doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

Research from CDC indicates that a third dose enhances protection against the delta and omicron variants, but that the level of protection wanes over four to five months.

The research “reinforces the importance of further consideration of additional doses to sustain or improve protection.”