Study finds 3rd Pfizer shot drastically improves protection; CDC panel votes to expand booster options: COVID-19 updates.
Fully vaccinated people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot in a large trial were at a 95.6% lower risk of COVID-19 infection than fully vaccinated people who received a placebo, the companies said Thursday.
The news came on the same day a CDC advisory panel voted unanimously to allow booster shots of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines and to permit the extra doses to be of a different brand than the original shots.
Put together, Thursday’s developments figure to accelerate the nation’s booster program, which the Biden administration has promoted. The Pfizer-BioNTech booster shots were authorized for certain populations in the U.S. last month.
In a trial of more than 10,000 people age 16 and older who were fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech shots, the companies found only five cases of COVID-19 in the boosted group compared to 109 in the placebo group, for an efficacy of 95.6%. No safety concerns were reported…Read More
