Washington, Europe Brief News- The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorised updated versions of Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s Covid booster shots that target the highly contagious BA.5 omicron subvariant.
The FDA authorized Pfizer’s modified booster for people ages 12 and older; Moderna’s shot was authorized for those 18 and up.
People who’ve received the two-dose primary series of either vaccine and those who’ve received the initial two doses plus one or two boosters are eligible for the updated shots as long as two months have passed since their last shot, the agency said in a statement.
The public can be assured that a great deal of care has been taken by the FDA to ensure that these bivalent Covid-19 vaccines meet our rigorous safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality standards for emergency use authorization,” Dr. Peter Marks, the agency’s top vaccine regulator, said in a statement.
The FDA’s signoff isn’t the last step: The decision will now go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its advisory committee to issue their own recommendation on how the shots should be used. The agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to vote Thursday. The CDC’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, could sign off on the doses shortly after Thursday’s meeting, and vaccinations could begin widely after Labor Day.
The U.S. government agreed to purchase 105 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine and 66 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine.
Both modified boosters target the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants, in addition to the original coronavirus strain, in a single shot.
