Covid-19: US FDA recommends against Covid-19 booster jabs

A panel advising the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended boosters of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine for people 65 and over, and those at high risk.

Ahead of a meeting on Friday, some scientists said they believed that boosters were unlikely to have a significant impact on the course of the pandemic.

Some have also said that additional vaccine doses would be more useful if distributed to parts of the world where many people have yet to receive their first or second jabs.

Dr Priscilla Hanudel, a Los Angeles-based emergency doctor, said that immunocompromised people "definitely" need to get a booster.

"Just like with any vaccine, all immunity will wane over time, and in the next month we're going to be seeing that," Dr Hanudel said.

Last month, President Biden announced that the booster shots for the Pfizer vaccine would be available on 20 September, as long as they received approval from the FDA and from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The White House had said that US residents would be eligible for booster shots eight months after receiving a second dose.

Under that timeline as many as 5.2 million people may have been eligible from next week.

According to CDC data, nearly 2 million people have already received a third vaccine dose since mid-August.The White House has yet to comment on the committee's recommendation, and it's unclear what happens next.

In the UK, the government has announced that it will offer boosters to everyone over 50 and to other vulnerable people as it heads towards the winter months.

Germany, France and the Czech Republic have announced similar plans for older or vulnerable people.

The World Health Organization has called on wealthier nations to hold off on providing booster shots until vaccination rates go up in lesser developed countries?