WASHINGTON — An influential federal advisory panel has soundly rejected a plan to offer Pfizer booster shots against COVID-19 to most Americans.
The vote Friday, 61-3, was a blow to the Biden administration’s effort to shore up people’s protection against the virus amid the highly contagious delta variant.
Over several hours of discussion, members of the Food and Drug Administration panel of outside experts voiced frustration that Pfizer had provided little data on safety of extra doses.
And they complained that data provided by Israeli researchers about their booster campaign might not be suitable for predicting the U.S. experience.
