A key Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee is meeting Friday to debate and vote on Pfizer and BioNTech‘s application to offer booster shots to the general public.
The vote by the agency’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee comes as some scientists — including at least two who are leaving the FDA over pressure from the Biden administration to approve the shots — say they aren’t entirely convinced every American needs extra doses at this time. The vote is scheduled for around 2:30 p.m. ET.
It sets the stage for a tense meeting as the administration has said it wants to begin offering booster shots to the general public as early as next week, pending authorization from the FDA. The move is part of Biden’s broader plan to confront a higher number of Covid cases in the U.S. fueled by the fast-spreading delta variant.