U.S. FDA clears additional lots of Moderna's Covid booster amid shortage

(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Monday it has authorized an additional five batches of Moderna Inc's updated Covid booster shots made at a Catalent facility in Indiana, after it deemed them safe for use.

Last week, the health regulator had allowed use of ten batches of Moderna's updated booster shots made at the Bloomington, Indiana facility, owned by a unit of Catalent Inc, which is currently not a part of the company's emergency use authorization.

The FDA had earlier said Moderna had requested authorization for additional batches in light of the current supply issues. It did not provide details on the number of doses cleared in both instances.

U.S. pharmacy chains like CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance have been working with the U.S. government to acquire more Moderna doses and said they have not seen any supply issues for the Pfizer/BioNtech booster shot.

The U.S. government, which has sent out over 25 million of the COVID-19 booster shots targeting BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron, has ordered more than 170 million updated shots for this fall, in preparation for a broad revaccination campaign.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)