NEW YORK – The drugmaker Moderna asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday to authorize a fourth injection of its vaccine against COVID-19, as a booster dose for all adults.
The request is broader than the request of the rival pharmaceutical company Pfizer earlier this week, for the regulator to approve a booster shot for all seniors.
In a news release, the company said its approval request for all adults was made “to provide flexibility” for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and medical providers to determine the “appropriate use” of a second booster dose of the mRNA vaccine, “including for those at higher risk of COVID-19 due to age or comorbidities.”
US officials have been laying the groundwork for giving additional booster doses, to bolster the protection of vaccines against serious illness and death from COVID-19. The White House has been sounding the alarm that it needs Congress to “urgently” approve more funding for the federal government to secure more doses of COVID-19 vaccines, either for additional booster shots or variant-specific immunizations. .
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