An influential Food and Drug Administration advisory committee plans to meet Sept. 17 to discuss extra doses of the COVID-19 vaccines, including the application filed by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc. for a third dose of their COVID-19 shot. Moderna Inc. on Wednesday also submitted its application for a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine. The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee traditionally recommends whether the FDA should authorize or approve a vaccine or drug. The regulator is not required to follow the advice of the committee but it often does. The Biden administration previously said that COVID-19 booster shots will be available to adults starting Sept. 20, though availability will be dependent on a stamp of approval from the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The FDA will review the supplemental application as expeditiously as possible, while still doing so in a thorough and science-based manner,” Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Research and Evaluation, said in a statement on Wednesday.
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