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Context | French Media Agency
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee on vaccines voted Thursday to recommend that the agency authorize the use of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 in the country.
The recommendation was adopted by a majority of 17 votes of the group of experts, against three votes against and one abstention.
The vote is not binding and the green light for commercialization has not yet been given, which is up to the FDA to determine in the coming days. But the decision clears doubts and the vaccine could begin to be administered in the United States at the beginning of next week in hospitals and nursing homes, the Secretary of Health said Wednesday.
The vaccine was considered safe, without serious side effects, and 95% effective after two doses in preventing covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The first dose seems to start protecting after ten days, but less so than with the booster three weeks later.
“The immune responses elicited by mRNA (messenger RNA) are similar to those of natural infection. But of course the mRNA vaccine is not infectious and cannot cause disease, “summarized Kathrin Jansen, director of Vaccines at Pfizer, during a question and answer session with the committee.
Experts have extensively debated the risk of allergy after two cases of severe reactions in the UK.
In the United States, a warning will accompany the vaccine, the FDA’s Marion Gruber announced: It will not be recommended for people with known allergies to any of its ingredients.
But committee member Paul Offit stressed the need to reassure the tens of millions of people allergic to eggs or peanuts.
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