Pfizer may seek approval for boosters for all adults as early as this week: report

Pfizer and BioNTech are soon expected to submit for approval regarding booster shots of their COVID-19 vaccine for all adults.

The request to authorize boosters for anyone 18 and older could be submitted as early as this week and is expected to obtain the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to The Washington Post.

At present, booster shots from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are available six months after a person’s second dose to groups who are 65 and older, are high-risk for COVID-19 because of medical conditions or have increased chances of exposure as a result of where they live or work. The Johnson & Johnson booster shot is available to anyone 18 and older two months after receiving the company’s single shot.

A spokesperson for Pfizer said in a statement to The Hill that the company had “not submitted and will be in touch if and when that update occurs.”

In August, President Biden announced that he aimed to make boosters available to all adults beginning Sept. 20. 

That decision garnered some initial criticism about that decision from people who said there was not enough evidence to suggest that young, otherwise healthy people needed an additional shot. Since then, data has indicated that several months after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, its protection lessens, the Post reported.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) previously advised that people could get whichever company’s booster shot they preferred, regardless of which shot they initially received.

At present, 58 percent of people are fully vaccinated as the U.S. has seen more than 46,440,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 754,000 deaths throughout the pandemic, according to The New York Times.