Outside advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday voted unanimously to recommend regulators authorize a second shot of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine to better protect Americans who received the one-dose vaccine, Reuters reports.
The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee backed the shots for all J&J recipients aged 18 and older at least two months after their first dose.
The FDA is not bound to follow the advisory panel recommendations, but typically does.
After hearing presentations from J&J and FDA scientists, many members of the advisory panel asked if J&J's single-dose vaccine should actually be considered a two-dose shot for everyone.
They pointed to the lower levels of virus neutralizing antibodies it provokes compared to vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology from Moderna and Pfizer.
J&J scientists argued their vaccine was more durable than the mRNA vaccines, according to Reuters.
Once the FDA signs off on the second dose, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make specific recommendations on who should get the shots. CDC advisers are scheduled to meet to discuss the boosters next week.
The FDA cleared the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, which works with just one dose instead of two, in late February.
Last month, the FDA authorized a booster dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine for older adults and some Americans at high-risk of illness.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)