By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Pfizer stock (NYSE:PFE) traded 1% higher in Thursday’s premarket following the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of booster shots of its Covid-19 vaccine for people at higher risk of infection.
This means that people 65 years and older and vulnerable individuals at risk of catching the illness will be able to get a third shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine. The two companies developed the vaccine jointly and share the revenue from the vaccine sales equally.
Patients should receive a booster at least six months after taking the second dose, the FDA said.
The need for a booster dose after studies indicated the efficacy of the two-dose vaccine declined after a certain period and that a third dose will help. The Delta variant of the original coronavirus that led to a resurgence of the pandemic in the U.S. and in other parts of the world this year was largely responsible for convincing the authorities of the need for a booster.
The Biden administration wanted a blanket approval for the booster to cover all adults but FDA advisors and experts advised against it.