A panel of experts from the US Food and Drug Administration recommends Corona booster vaccinations with the agent from BioNTech / Pfizer only for the elderly and risk groups.
The influential group of scientists came to the conclusion on Friday, after hours of discussion, that the available data did not justify a general introduction of a third dose of vaccine for people older than 16 years.
For seniors over 65 and members of risk groups, a third dose would make sense, it said.
America's President Joe Biden had spoken out in favor of a further dose for everyone whose second vaccination was more than eight months ago in view of decreasing immunity to Covid-19.
Better first vaccination for the poor than third for the rich
Recently, however, researchers in the specialist magazine Lancet had also expressed doubts about corona booster vaccinations for everyone: "The previous study situation shows no need to administer boosters on a broad front in population groups with effective, complete vaccinations," it said.
The globally limited number of vaccine doses could save most lives if it could benefit people who are at considerable risk of developing serious illnesses and who are still unvaccinated.
The background to this is that in some rich countries people are thinking about booster vaccinations for everyone, while elsewhere hardly anyone has yet been vaccinated. The WHO had already called for a temporary stop of booster vaccinations against the coronavirus at the beginning of August, as long as many poorer countries are still waiting for vaccine doses.