On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorizations of the updated Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine booster shots.
Both are bivalent formulations of the vaccines for use as a single booster dose at least two months following primary or booster vaccination.
The bivalent vaccines, also referred to as “updated boosters,” contain two messenger RNA components of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, one of the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and the other one in common between the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.
Moderna’s vaccine, bivalent, is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 18 years of age and older. The Pfizer vaccine, bivalent, is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 12 years of age and older.
“The COVID-19 vaccines, including boosters, continue to save countless lives and prevent the most serious outcomes (hospitalization and death) of COVID-19,” FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. said. “As we head into fall and begin to spend more time indoors, we strongly encourage anyone who is eligible to consider receiving a booster dose with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants.”
The vaccine boosters can be administered once they’re approved by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The post FDA authorizes updated Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 boosters appeared first on SuperTalk Mississippi.