FDA officials unwisely limit COVID-19 vaccine, says Public Citizen

22 May 2025

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is set to sharply restrict vaccine availability to millions of Americans without a persuasive justification based in science.

In a medical journal commentary, Dr Vinay Prasad, the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Dr Martin Makary, the FDA Commissioner, announced that the agency will move to limit the approval of COVID-19 vaccines to adults over the age of 65 years and “all persons above the age of six months with one or more risk factors that put them at high risk for severe Covid-19 outcomes.”

The risk factors include many chronic and infectious diseases, obesity, pregnancy and smoking. Estimates suggest that 100 million to 200 million Americans will have access to vaccines in this manner, according to the article.

This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free.  A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.

Login to your account

Become a subscriber

 

£820

Or £77 per month

Subscribe Now
  • Unfettered access to industry-leading news, commentary and analysis in pharma and biotech.
  • Updates from clinical trials, conferences, M&A, licensing, financing, regulation, patents & legal, executive appointments, commercial strategy and financial results.
  • Daily roundup of key events in pharma and biotech.
  • Monthly in-depth briefings on Boardroom appointments and M&A news.
  • Choose from a cost-effective annual package or a flexible monthly subscription
The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed

Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK



Companies featured in this story

More ones to watch >


Today's issue

Company Spotlight





More Features in Pharmaceutical