Food and Drug Administration advisers will meet Thursday to discuss simplifying the Covid vaccination schedule, allowing most people to get the currently available booster, regardless of how many doses they had received before that.
The agency’s proposal was outlined in briefing documents posted online Monday.
Currently, everyone ages 6 months and older are required to complete a primary vaccination series — at least two doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Novavax vaccines or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine— before they can get a booster dose two months later.
The FDA is proposing skipping over that primary series, meaning that most unvaccinated individuals could go ahead and get the latest booster shot if they decided to get a Covid vaccine.
Some groups, however, would still be advised to get two doses, according to the briefing documents. These include older adults, immunocompromised individuals and children 2 years old and younger.
The FDA’s proposal, experts say, would greatly simplify the Covid vaccination schedule in the United States — aligning it more closely with the annual flu shot.
In another similarity to the flu shot, the FDA is considering whether the Covid vaccine should be updated at least once a year, based on what strains are in circulation.
The agency’s proposals will be put before its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on Thursday.