Two new studies that showed the updated COVID-19 boosters provoked an immune response similar to the one triggered by the old boosters will not have an effect on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorizations, a top regulator says.
Dr. Peter Marks, head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told The Epoch Times via email that the studies were based on “small numbers of individuals” and that data from larger studies are expected to be available soon. “FDA continues to encourage eligible individuals to consider receiving an updated vaccine to help protect against the currently circulating COVID-19 variants and the wave of COVID-19 that appears to be coming,” he added.
The FDA in August granted emergency authorization to updated boosters from Moderna and Pfizer that target the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants, despite no clinical data being available. The agency said at the time that data from mice experiments and safety and effectiveness data from the old shots indicated the new boosters would provide better protection.