Day 622 Retrospective: Spikevax Bounces Back

Yesterday, despite the lack of evidence, the FDA committee of 19 voted unanimously in favor of distributing Moderna's half-strength Spikevax booster to the usual suspects, "including the elderly, adults with underlying medical conditions and those who work or live in high-risk settings, such as health-care and grocery workers." One member was particularly honest about the state of vaccine science at the FDA these days:

When the FDA committee met last month, they rejected a proposal to distribute booster shots of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine to the general public. Some committee members at the time said they were concerned there wasn’t enough data to make a recommendation, while others argued third shots should be limited to certain groups.

After Moderna’s unanimous vote Thursday, committee member Dr. Patrick Moore said the data the company submitted for authorization of a booster “was not well explained,” adding he voted yes more on “gut feeling.”

“The data itself is not strong, but it is certainly going in a direction that is supportive of this vote,” he said.

Massachusetts cases were up two ninths of a percentage point yesterday.