U.S. regulators on Tuesday cleared another COVID-19 booster dose for older adults and people with weak immune systems so they can shore up protection this spring — while taking steps to make coronavirus vaccinations simpler for everyone else.
Those 65 and older can get second doses of the updated versions of Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s Covid boosters at least four months after their last doses, the FDA said in a statement. Most people who are immunocompromised can get additional doses at least two months after their last doses, according to the agency.
The CDC’s advisory panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, met earlier Wednesday to discuss the changes authorized by the FDA. The CDC signoff means shots could begin immediately.
Following the FDA’s decision, the CDC also recommended using the bivalent formula in all Covid vaccines moving forward, and it is doing away with the multidose primary series for people who haven’t yet been vaccinated.
A more recent CDC study, published January 23, showed that a bivalent mRNA booster dose such as those from Pfizer and Moderna provided added protection against the new omicron XBB and XBB.1.5 strains for at least the first three months in people who had previously received two to four monovalent vaccine doses.
Investigators found that the updated boosters cut the risk of symptomatic XBB subvariant infection by about 50 percent for most adults compared with those who didn’t get the booster.
A Second Bivalent Booster Could Blunt a Potential Summer COVID Spike
The advantage of the bivalent booster is that it provides a reliable immunity boost that at the very least offers a few months of more robust protection against both infection and severe infection, says Aaron Friedberg, MD, clinical assistant professor of internal medicine at The Ohio State University in Columbus..
“COVID has only been circulating for about three years, so it’s hard to generalize about a pattern, but there has been a trend of a big peak in the winter, sort of a lull in the spring, followed by another spike in cases in the summer,” he says.
By authorizing the second bivalent dose now, if there is another wave coming, some of the more vulnerable people will have extra protection, says Friedberg.
What can you do to get a booster appointment? You have several options:
1. Book an appointment through your medical provider
2. Go to your county’s vaccination site
3. Book an appointment through CVS website
4. Book an appointment through your local pharmacies
