[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16216-16217]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-06053]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. FDA-2022-N-0336]


Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; 
Notice of Meeting; Establishment of a Public Docket; Request for 
Comments

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice; establishment of a public docket; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announces a forthcoming 
public advisory committee meeting of the Vaccines and Related 
Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC). The general function 
of the committee is to provide advice and recommendations to FDA on 
regulatory issues. This meeting will be held to discuss considerations 
for use of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and the process for COVID-19 
vaccine strain selection to address current and emerging variants. The 
meeting will be open to the public. FDA is establishing a docket for 
public comment on this document.

DATES: The meeting will be held virtually on April 6, 2022, from 8:30 
a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. Submit either electronic or written 
comments on this public meeting by April 5, 2022. Comments received on 
or before March 31, 2022, will be provided to the committee. Comments 
received after March 31, 2022, and by April 5, 2022, will be taken into 
consideration by FDA.

ADDRESSES: Please note that due to the impact of this COVID-19 
pandemic, all meeting participants will be joining this advisory 
committee meeting via an online teleconferencing platform. The online 
web conference meeting will be available at the following link on the 
day of the meeting: https://youtu.be/x8rq247E80I.
    FDA is establishing a docket for public comment on this meeting. 
The docket number is FDA-2022-N-0336. The docket will close on April 5, 
2022. Submit either electronic or written comments on this public 
meeting by April 5, 2022. Please note that late, untimely filed 
comments will not be considered. The https://www.regulations.gov 
electronic filing system will accept comments until 11:59 p.m. Eastern 
Time at the end of April 5, 2022. Comments received by mail/hand 
delivery/courier (for written/paper submissions) will be considered 
timely if they are received on or before that date.
    Comments received on or before March 31, 2022, will be provided to 
the committee. Comments received March 31, 2022, and by April 5, 2022, 
will be taken into consideration by FDA. In the event that the meeting 
is cancelled, FDA will continue to evaluate any relevant applications 
or information, and consider any comments submitted to the docket, as 
appropriate.
    You may submit comments as follows:

Electronic Submissions

    Submit electronic comments in the following way:
    <bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted 
electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov 
will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be 
made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment 
does not include any confidential information that you or a third party 
may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone 
else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, 
such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your 
name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in 
the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
    <bullet> If you want to submit a comment with confidential 
information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, 
submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner 
detailed (see ``Written/Paper Submissions'' and ``Instructions'').

Written/Paper Submissions

    Submit written/paper submissions as follows:
    <bullet> Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier (for written/paper 
submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug 
Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
    <bullet> For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets 
Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any 
attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, 
as confidential, if submitted as detailed in ``Instructions.''
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. 
FDA-2022-N-0336 for ``Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory 
Committee (VRBPAC); Notice of Meeting; Establishment of a Public 
Docket; Request for Comments.'' Received comments, those filed in a 
timely manner (see ADDRESSES), will be

[[Page 16217]]

placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as ``Confidential 
Submissions,'' publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at 
the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Eastern Time 
Monday through Friday, 240-402-7500.
    <bullet> Confidential Submissions--To submit a comment with 
confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly 
available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You 
should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information 
you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states 
``THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.'' FDA will review 
this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in its 
consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed 
confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be available for 
public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov. Submit both 
copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name 
and contact information be made publicly available, you can provide 
this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your 
comments and you must identify the information as ``confidential.'' Any 
information marked as ``confidential'' will not be disclosed except in 
accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. For 
more information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, see 
80 FR 56469, September18, 2015, or access the information at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2015-09-18/pdf/2015-23389.pdf.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in 
the heading of this document, into the ``Search'' box and follow the 
prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, 
Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852, 240-402-7500.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Prabhakara Atreya or Christina Vert, 
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug 
Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Silver Spring, MD 
20993-0002, 240-506-4946, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f4b7b6b1a6a2a6b6a4b5b7b4929095da9c9c87da939b82"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="094a4b4c5b5f5b4b59484a496f6d682761617a276e667f">[email protected]</span></a>; or FDA Advisory 
Committee Information Line, 1-800-741-8138 (301-443-0572 in the 
Washington, DC area). A notice in the Federal Register about last 
minute modifications that impact a previously announced advisory 
committee meeting cannot always be published quickly enough to provide 
timely notice. Therefore, you should always check the FDA's website at 
https://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/default.htm and scroll down to 
the appropriate advisory committee meeting link, or call the advisory 
committee information line to learn about possible modifications before 
coming to the meeting.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Consistent with FDA's regulations, this 
notice is being published with less than 15 days prior to the date of 
the meeting based on a determination that convening a meeting of the 
Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee as soon as 
possible is warranted. This notice could not be published 15 days prior 
to the date of the meeting due to the need for prompt discussion 
regarding considerations for use of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and 
the process for COVID-19 vaccine strain selection to address current 
and emerging variants given the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Agenda: The meeting presentations will be heard, viewed, captioned, 
and recorded through an online teleconferencing platform. On April 6, 
2022, the committee will meet in open session to discuss considerations 
for use of additional COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and the process 
for COVID-19 vaccine strain selection to address current and emerging 
variants.
    FDA intends to make background material available to the public no 
later than 2 business days before the meeting. If FDA is unable to post 
the background material on its website prior to the meeting, the 
background material will be made publicly available at the time of the 
advisory committee meeting, and the background material will be posted 
on FDA's website after the meeting. Background material is available at 
https://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/Calendar/default.htm. Scroll 
down to the appropriate advisory committee meeting link. The meeting 
will include slide presentations with audio components to allow the 
presentation of materials in a manner that most closely resembles an 
in-person advisory committee meeting.
    Procedure: On April 6, 2022, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time, 
the meeting is open to the public. Interested persons may present data, 
information, or views, orally or in writing, on issues pending before 
the committee. All electronic and written submissions submitted to the 
Docket (see ADDRESSES) on or before March 31, 2022, will be provided to 
the committee. Comments received after March 31, 2022, and by April 5, 
2022, will be taken into consideration by FDA. Oral presentations from 
the public will be scheduled between approximately 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 
p.m. Eastern Time. Those individuals interested in making formal oral 
presentations should notify the contact person and submit a brief 
statement of the general nature of the evidence or arguments they wish 
to present, the names and email addresses of proposed participants, and 
an indication of the approximate time requested to make their 
presentation on or before March 29, 2022. Time allotted for each 
presentation may be limited. If the number of registrants requesting to 
speak is greater than can be reasonably accommodated during the 
scheduled open public hearing session, FDA may conduct a lottery to 
determine the speakers for the scheduled open public hearing session. 
The contact person will notify interested persons regarding their 
request to speak by March 30, 2022.
    For press inquiries, please contact the Office of Media Affairs at 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#9ff9fbfef0f2fedff9fbfeb1f7f7ecb1f8f0e9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5c3a383d33313d1c3a383d7234342f723b332a">[email protected]</span></a> or 301-796-4540.
    FDA welcomes the attendance of the public at its advisory committee 
meetings and will make every effort to accommodate persons with 
disabilities. If you require accommodations due to a disability, please 
contact Prabhakara Atreya or Christina Vert (see FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT) at least 7 days in advance of the meeting.
    FDA is committed to the orderly conduct of its advisory committee 
meetings. Please visit our website at https://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/AboutAdvisoryCommittees/ucm111462.htm for procedures 
on public conduct during advisory committee meetings.
    Notice of this meeting is given under the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (5 U.S.C. app. 2).

    Dated: March 15, 2022.
Lauren K. Roth,
Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2022-06053 Filed 3-21-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4164-01-P


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