(Bloomberg) -- A panel of outside experts to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet Wednesday to discuss the agency's guidance for a fourth dose against Covid-19 and a framework for future additional shots.
The panel of outside experts, which advises the CDC on how best to administer new vaccines, will also discuss safety and effectiveness of the boosters at the meeting, according to a draft agenda published late Tuesday.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will present a summary of their advisory committee hearing earlier this month.
Wednesday's session comes at a crucial time, as states and companies cut back most anti-pandemic measures. A mandate requiring masks on public transit was also scrapped this week.
Moderna Inc. and the partnership of Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have started rolling out a fourth dose to older Americans. The FDA, which is in charge of authorizing who can get a vaccine and when, has been looking at how to replace the current practice of boosting every several months with a more sustainable strategy.
The virtual meeting is scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will be streamed online. The agency isn't obligated to follow the advisory panel's recommendations, though it typically does.
Officials have warned that the U.S. does not have enough vaccines to give everyone a fourth dose. The Biden administration has pressed Congress to authorize new funding, which would also allow it to order more boosters or variant-specific vaccines.
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