[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 229 (Friday, November 27, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76082-76083]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-26229]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. FDA-2020-N-1898]


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 or Agency) announces a 
forthcoming public advisory committee meeting of the Vaccines and 
Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. The general function of 
the committee is to provide advice and recommendations to the Agency on 
FDA's regulatory issues. The meeting will be open to the public. FDA is 
establishing a docket for public comment on this document. 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 Federal 
Register notice could not be published 15 days prior to the date of the 
meeting due to a recent submission of a request for Emergency Use 
Authorization (EUA) for an investigational vaccine to prevent 
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the need for prompt discussion 
of such submission, given the COVID-19 pandemic.

DATES: The meeting will be held on December 10, 2020, from 9 a.m. 
Eastern Time to 6 p.m. Eastern Time.

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. Answers to 
commonly asked questions including information regarding special 
accommodations due to a disability may be accessed at: https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/about-advisory-committees/common-questions-and-answers-about-fda-advisory-committee-meetings. The online 
web conference meeting will be available at the following link on the 
day of the meeting: https://fda.yorkcast.com/webcast/Play/d75d80a3eb6e419986181c1a881fe2671d.
    FDA is establishing a docket for public comment on this meeting. 
The docket number is FDA-2020-N-1898. The docket will close on December 
9, 2020. Submit either electronic or written comments on this public 
meeting by December 9, 2020. Please note that late, untimely filed 
comments will not be considered. Electronic comments must be submitted 
on or before December 9, 2020. The https://www.regulations.gov 
electronic filing system will accept comments until 11:59 p.m. Eastern 
Time at the end of December 9, 2020. Comments received by mail/hand 
delivery/courier (for written/paper submissions) will be considered 
timely if they are postmarked or the delivery service acceptance 
receipt is on or before that date.
    Comments received on or before December 4, 2020 will be provided to 
the committee. Comments received after December 4, 2020, and by 
December 9, 2020, will be taken into consideration by FDA. In the event 
that the meeting is cancelled, FDA will continue to evaluate any 
relevant applications, submissions, 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:
     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.
     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:
     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.
     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-2020-N-1898 for ``Vaccines and Related Biological Products; Notice 
of Meeting; Establishment of a Public Docket; Request for Comments.'' 
Received comments, those filed in a timely manner (see ADDRESSES), will 
be 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., Monday through Friday, 240-402-7500.

[[Page 76083]]

     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, September 18, 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 Kathleen Hayes, 
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug 
Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. 6306, Silver 
Spring, MD 20993-0002, 240-506-4946 or 301-796-7864, respectively; 
[email protected]; 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 Agency's website at https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees and scroll down to the appropriate advisory 
committee meeting link, or call the advisory committee information line 
to learn about possible modifications before joining the meeting.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Agenda: The meeting presentations will be 
heard, viewed, captioned, and recorded through an online 
teleconferencing platform. The Committee will meet in open session to 
discuss EUA of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for the prevention 
of COVID-19 in individuals 16 years of age and older. EUA authority 
allows FDA to help strengthen the nation's public health protections 
against chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN) threats by 
facilitating the availability and use of Medical Countermeasures (MCMs) 
needed during public health emergencies. Under section 564 of the 
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 360bbb-3), FDA may 
allow unapproved medical products or unapproved uses of approved 
medical products to be used in an emergency to diagnose, treat, or 
prevent serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions caused by 
CBRN threat agents when certain statutory criteria have been met, 
including that there are no adequate, approved, and available 
alternatives. Additional information about EUAs can be found at https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/mcm-legal-regulatory-and-policy-framework/emergency-use-authorization.
    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, background 
material will be made publicly available on FDA's website at the time 
of the advisory committee meeting. Background material and the link to 
the online teleconference meeting room will be available at https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar. 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: 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 December 4, 2020, will be provided to the 
committee. Comments received after December 4, 2020, and by December 9, 
2020, will be taken into consideration by FDA. Oral presentations from 
the public will be scheduled between approximately 12 p.m. Eastern Time 
and 1 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 addresses of proposed participants, and an 
indication of the approximate time requested to make their presentation 
on or before December 2, 2020. 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 December 
3, 2020.
    For press inquiries, please contact the Office of Media Affairs at 
[email protected] 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 Kathleen Hayes 
([email protected]) 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/advisory-committees/about-advisory-committees/public-conduct-during-fda-advisory-committee-meetings 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: November 23, 2020.
Lauren K. Roth,
Acting Principal Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2020-26229 Filed 11-25-20; 8:45 am]
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