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Del Rio noted, though, that the scientific process would eventually play itself out and deliver a solid, well-debated answer. Though it's not usually as public of a process, it is normal, he said.

\"People are seeing how the sausage is made,\" he said.

And that's what happened on Friday, though there is still a few more steps to go: Doctors and public health experts reviewed the data and made a call, which will now head to the next scientific committee for review.

Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist at Bellevue Hospital Center and former adviser to the Biden administration, told ABC News that while the public debate over the next course of action on boosters had the potential to alarm people, people should rest assured that the vaccines are the best way out of the pandemic.

\"I think any time there is confusion, there is debate about the science, that can add to vaccine hesitancy because it plants a seed in people's mind that maybe we aren't sure,\" Gounder said. \"What I can say is that we are very sure that these vaccines are safe and highly effective. And if you have not yet been vaccinated, now is the time to get vaccinated.\"

The FDA and CDC committees are looking at Pfizer booster shots. What's the deal with boosters for people who got J&J or Moderna?

Both Johnson & Johnson and Moderna are expected to follow Pfizer and run their data by the official FDA and CDC channels in the coming weeks in an effort to get approval for booster shots.

But both companies maintain protection is still strong against severe infection.

Moderna, in an analysis of various studies released on Wednesday, even made the case that the company's original vaccine appears to generate the strongest protection among the three currently authorized vaccines.

Nevertheless, Moderna President Stephen Hoge told ABC News in an interview on Wednesday that \"protection is not permanent\" and \"we're not going to be able to defy gravity forever.\"

Newly published data from Moderna's booster-shot trial showed a lower risk of breakthrough infections among people vaccinated eight months ago compared to people vaccinated 13 months ago.

Unlike Pfizer, Moderna's third shot would be a half-dose. They say their data shows that boosting with a half-shot seems to generate more than enough immune response.

For J&J, the one-shot series about 14 million Americans received, a study found that the vaccine still provided a durable immune response at least eight months later, even without a booster dose.

Another study, released Tuesday, found more good news: The J&J booster dose actually boosted antibody levels higher than they were after the initial shot. It also found that an additional shot later on, around six months after the first shot, boosted antibody levels higher than a shot given two months later.

And while it will be a few weeks before there's more concrete news on the J&J booster shots, there's room in the timeline. Most Americans didn't receive the J&J vaccine until late spring of 2020, since it was approved after the mRNA vaccines. That means the J&J boosters won't be widely necessary until November at the earliest -- if the FDA and CDC decide they're needed at all.

There is not enough data yet on mixing and matching vaccines, though the CDC is actively researching it.

And for all three of the vaccines, recipients have a common question: will I need to get a booster routinely? Experts, wary of predicting anything about the unpredictable global pandemic, said it's possible, but unlikely.

\"My prediction is that as long as the COVID rates are going down, we will not need a continuous boost,\" said Dr. Paul Goepfert, director of the Alabama Vaccine Research Clinic at the University of Alabama. That could change, however, if a new viral strain requires a newly tailored vaccine.

Are booster shots safe?

Pfizer, the only vaccine so far to have its data reviewed by the FDA, found no safety concerns among the 300 trial participants who were part of its clinical trial. Pfizer followed the participants for up to three months after getting their third shot.

Peoples' reactions to the booster shots were not significantly different from their reactions to a second dose, FDA and Pfizer both wrote in their separate briefing documents.

\"No deaths, vaccine-related serious adverse events, or events of myocarditis, pericarditis, anaphylaxis, appendicitis, or Bell's palsy were reported among study participants who received the … booster dose,\" the FDA wrote in a review of Pfizer's safety data.

Moderna and J&J have not yet had their data reviewed by the FDA, but have said they found no safety concerns in their clinical trials of booster shots.

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