AFAIK the advisory panel can be overruled. FDA itself can still approve it.
Edit: Advisory panel approved boosters for some cases as well (ZeroHedge below, but saw it in various places last night):
Update (1620ET): Minutes after the FDA advisory panel rejected the Biden Administration's plan to dole out booster shots to patients as young as 16, the same panel returned and voted unanimously to temporarily approve Pfizer Booster jabs for patients who are either a.) 65 or older, b.) immunocompromised or c.) both.
Not even overruled. Advisory committee votes are not binding on any component of a drug application.
FDA can and has approved drugs that were unanimously voted against. These meetings used to have some value, but today FDA mostly convenes them as a way of building consensus and an appearance of having done their due diligence. What the committee says or how they vote won't change the outcome of a drug approval, which FDA frequently decides on prior to the meeting.
AFAIK the advisory panel can be overruled. FDA itself can still approve it.
Edit: Advisory panel approved boosters for some cases as well (ZeroHedge below, but saw it in various places last night):
Not even overruled. Advisory committee votes are not binding on any component of a drug application.
FDA can and has approved drugs that were unanimously voted against. These meetings used to have some value, but today FDA mostly convenes them as a way of building consensus and an appearance of having done their due diligence. What the committee says or how they vote won't change the outcome of a drug approval, which FDA frequently decides on prior to the meeting.