A panel of leading US medical experts advising the government voted in favour of authorising boosters of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for everyone aged 65 and up, as well as people at high risk of developing severe Covid.

The same committee however rejected an initial proposal, submitted by Pfizer and backed by president Joe Biden’s administration, to fully approve boosters to everyone aged 16 and over.

The decisions came after a day-long meeting full of data presentations and at times charged debate that was convened by the Food and Drug Administration. Tens of millions of Americans will soon be eligible for a third shot.

‘I think this should demonstrate to the public that the members of this committee are independent of the FDA, and that in fact we do bring our voices to the table,’ said Archana Chatterjee, dean of Chicago Medical School.

The panel — which included vaccinologists, infectious disease researchers, and epidemiologists — concluded that the benefit-risk balance differed for younger people, especially males at risk for myocarditis.

A clinical trial for the booster involved just over 300 people, which they felt was too small to be able to draw firm conclusions about safety.

The panel voted 16-2 against granting a third dose full approval.

They were then presented with a new motion, and voted 18-0 for granting emergency authorisation for people aged over 65 and those at high risk. They agreed this should extend to health care workers and people at high risk of occupational exposure.

Now the issue turns to another committee, this time convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on September 22-23 to further define who is eligible and decide on rollout.

Pfizer will work with the FDA to address the committee’s questions as ‘we continue to believe in the benefits of a booster dose for a broader population,’ Kathrin Jansen, head of vaccine research and development at the company, said in a statement.

A new study released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday is the latest to suggest the Moderna Covid vaccine confers better long-term protection against hospitalisation than Pfizer.

CDC researchers conducted an analysis of nearly 3,689 adults who were hospitalised with severe Covid from March 11 to August 15, 2021 — a period that precedes and includes the dominance of the Delta variant.

Overall, 12.9 percent were fully vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine, 20.0 per cent were vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech, and 3.1 per cent were vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson.

Over the entire period, the Moderna vaccine was 93 per cent effective against hospitalisation, Pfizer was 88 per cent effective, and J&J was 68 per cent effective.

The loss of efficacy against hospitalisation for Pfizer was particularly pronounced: it fell from 91 per cent in 14-120 days after vaccination to 77 per cent more than 120 days after vaccination.

By contrast, Moderna fell from 93 per cent to 92 per cent when comparing the same two periods.

The study also included a separate analysis of the levels of different types of antibodies provoked by the vaccines, taken from 100 volunteers.

The number of people in France who have received at least one jab against Covid-19 has crossed the 50-million mark, president Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.

Macron made the announcement in a video posted on social media in which he also said that ‘the vaccine saves lives and the virus kills, it’s that simple’.

After a slow start, France now has one of the world’s highest vaccination rates, with close to 90 per cent of adults in the country of 67 million people having received one or two vaccine doses.

Macron’s government had initially announced end-August as the target date for the 50-million mark.