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* MHRA gives go-ahead for Pfizer, AZ booster shots
* Final decision on programme still pending
* Debate over if and when boosters will be needed
(Adds detail, context)
By Alistair Smout
LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Britain's medical regulator on
Thursday gave the go-ahead for Pfizer and AstraZeneca's
COVID-19 vaccine to be used as booster shots, but said
any decision to proceed with a booster programme was for others
to make.
Britain's Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation
(JCVI) is discussing whether booster shots for the elderly and
vulnerable are needed, with planning underway for a booster
programme that could begin this month.
The final decision on whether there should be booster shots
is for the government, but the regulator's decision clears one
hurdle along that path.
"I am pleased to confirm that the COVID-19 vaccines made by
Pfizer and AstraZeneca can be used as safe and effective booster
doses," said June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and
Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
"It will now be for the (JCVI) to advise on whether booster
jabs will be given."
Whether booster vaccinations are needed is an open question,
especially as the likes of Britain and the United States are
planning third doses when COVID continues to kill unvaccinated
people around the world.
Pfizer has said that it believes a third shot of vaccine
will be needed to maintain protection, although executives at
AstraZeneca, who are not making a profit on the vaccine during
the pandemic, have stressed the need to wait for evidence and
not pursue booster programmes that are not needed.
Earlier on Thursday, JCVI member Adam Finn said that it
wasn't clear that protection was waning against severe disease,
and that a mistimed booster programme might cause more problems.
"Getting the timing right is one of several things that we
need to get right. You could conceivably run into a position
where you're immunising a lot of people when they don't actually
need to be," he told BBC radio.
"(Then) if the vaccines do wane, then they will wane earlier
than they would have done if you'd immunised them when they did
need (a booster)."
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by William James)
