This browser does not support the Video element.
President Joe Biden talks COVID-19 booster shots, border crisis
President Joe Biden spoke about the U.S. response to COVID-19, including newly approved Pfizer booster shots for anyone over the age of 65 or at high risk. The president also expressed disappointment with the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that the treatment of migrants there is "not who we are" and vowing to address the issue.
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it is wrestling with whether and when recipients of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine need another dose — at six months or as early as two months.
In an online review, FDA scientists didn’t reach a firm conclusion, citing shortcomings with J&J’s data, including little information on protection against the extra-contagious delta variant of the coronavirus.
The review comes ahead of meetings Thursday and Friday when an FDA advisory panel will recommend whether to back booster doses of both the J&J and Moderna vaccines. That’s one step in the government’s vaccine review process: Next week, the FDA will make a final decision on authorizing those boosters and then the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will debate who actually should get them.
RELATED: Moderna, J&J COVID-19 vaccines: FDA advisory panel to weigh boosters this week
Health authorities say all the vaccines used in the U.S. continue to provide strong protection against severe disease or death from COVID-19. But amid signs that protection against milder infections may be waning, the government already has cleared booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine for certain people starting at six months after their last shot.
This browser does not support the Video element.
President Biden receives COVID-19 booster shot on camera
President Biden renewed his calls for Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine and for eligible citizens to get the Pfizer-BioNTech booster.
Aiming for uniform recommendations, Moderna likewise asked the FDA to clear its booster dose at six months. But J&J complicated the decision by proposing a second shot over a range of two to six months.
FDA reviewers wrote that a study of the two-month booster plan suggests "there may be a benefit," while pointing to only small numbers of people who got another shot at six months instead.
Overall, the J&J vaccine "still affords protection against severe COVID-19 disease and death," the FDA’s reviewers concluded. But data about its effectiveness "are consistently less" than the protection seen with Pfizer and Moderna shots.
For its part, J&J filed data with the FDA from a real-world study showing its vaccine remains about 80% effective against hospitalizations in the U.S.
RELATED: New Merck Covid pill reduces hospitalizations, deaths by 50 percent, drug-maker says
J&J’s single-dose vaccine was highly anticipated for its one-and-done formulation. But its rollout was hurt by a series of troubles including manufacturing problems and some rare but serious side effects including a blood clot disorder and a neurological reaction called Guillain-Barre syndrome. In both cases, regulators decided the shot’s benefits outweighed those risks.
Rival drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna have provided the vast majority of U.S. COVID-19 vaccines. More than 170 million Americans have been fully vaccinated with those companies’ two-dose shots while less than 15 million Americans got the J&J shot.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.