Mixing booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized in the United States was found to be safe in adults, a study by the National Institutes of Health showed on Thursday.
At the same time, another stud by NIH showed that people who received Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine will have a stronger neutralizing antibody response if they get an mRNA shot as the second dose.
J&J has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve a shot of its own single-dose vaccine as the booster dose. The FDA’s advisers are set to consider the need on Friday.
The NIH will present the mix-and-match data to the FDA panel on Friday.
There were limitations to the NIH data, according to the report. Neutralizing antibodies only prevent the virus from entering cells and replicating, and the report said it was unclear how long the response will last.
Two-dose vaccines made by Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech and Moderna Inc use the mRNA technology.
The health regulator’s outside experts will also discuss the need for an additional dose of Moderna’s vaccine on Friday.
Scientists at the FDA have said Moderna had not met all of the agency’s criteria to support use of booster doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, possibly because the efficacy of the shot’s first two doses has remained strong.
(Reuters)
