Those With Weak Immune System Can Get COVID Booster Jabs, Say US Authorities

New Delhi: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday allowed people with compromised immune systems to get a third dose of the COVID vaccine.

The change in FDA regulation is specific to patients who have been unable to mount an adequate immune response against the virus, even after being fully vaccinated. The additional dose will provide these patients with levels of protection seen in people without weakened immune systems, experts were quoted as saying.

The FDA said that the additional doses are for “certain immunocompromised individuals, specifically, solid organ transplant recipients or those who are diagnosed with conditions that are considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise.” The amended EUAs apply only to the third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

“Today’s action allows doctors to boost immunity in certain immunocompromised individuals who need extra protection from COVID-19. As we’ve previously stated, other individuals who are fully vaccinated are adequately protected and do not need an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine at this time,” acting FDA Commissioner Dr Janet Woodcock said in a statement.

The FDA said that the additional doses are for “certain immunocompromised individuals, specifically, solid organ transplant recipients or those who are diagnosed with conditions that are considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise.” This applies only to third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

“This action is about ensuring our most vulnerable — who may need an additional dose to enhance their own biological responses to the vaccines — are better protected from Covid-19,” Centre For Disease Control (CDC) Director Dr Rochelle Walensky said earlier in the day during a White House Covid response team briefing.

The FDA’s change does not apply to the general population. Such booster doses would be given only if protection from the vaccines was shown to fall below a certain threshold — though scientists are still working to determine precisely what that threshold is.

“If the data show in fact that the degree of protection has gone down below a critical level,” Dr Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday on TODAY, “that’s when you’re going to be hearing about the implementation of boosters” in the general population.

The immunocompromised, however, “never really got a good response to begin with,” he said.

The FDA move paves the way for the CDC to change its official recommendation for a third dose in this group, which is needed before doctors can start giving them to their immunocompromised patients.

A group of independent advisers to the CDC is scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss the FDA’s amended emergency use authorisation, and offer insights on whether to recommend the agency should make the change, Walensky said.