Associated Press
U.S. regulators on Wednesday signed off on extending COVID-19 boosters to Americans who got the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine and said anyone eligible for an extra dose can get a brand different from the one they received initially.
The Food and Drug Administration’s decisions mark a big step toward expanding the U.S. booster campaign, which began with extra doses of the Pfizer vaccine last month. But before more people roll up their sleeves, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will consult an expert panel later this week before finalizing official recommendations for who should get boosters and when.
The latest moves would expand by tens of millions the number of Americans eligible for boosters and formally allow “mixing and matching” of shots — making it simpler to get another dose, especially for people who had a side effect from one brand but still want the proven protection of vaccination.
Specifically, the FDA authorized a third Moderna shot for seniors and others at high risk from COVID-19 because of their health problems, jobs or living conditions — six months after their last shot. One big change: Moderna’s booster will be half the dose that’s used for the first two shots, based on company data showing that was plenty to rev up immunity again.
For J&J’s single-shot vaccine, the FDA said all U.S. recipients should get a second dose at least two months following their initial vaccination.
The FDA rulings differ because the vaccines are made differently, with different dosing schedules — and the J&J vaccine has consistently shown a lower level of effectiveness than either of the two-shot Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
3 comments
Alex's Mom
October 20, 2021 at 5:55 pm
I know many of you miss Alex’s incisive, informed and brilliant comments at Florida Politics. You may be wondering why he is silent. Well, I regret to tell you that my poor baby Alex, despite being fully vaccinated, is hospitalized with COVID. He is doing well, and retains his charm and self confidence, so not to worry. I would ask for thoughts and prayers but we don’t believe in all that fake religious hogwash. He’ll be fine.
Jerry
October 20, 2021 at 8:59 pm
They can rubber stamp it all they want. I’m not touching these vaccines. No way!!
It takes an average of 5 years for the FDA to approve a vaccine, and can take up to 10 years to approve a new drug. Yet they are trying to mandate this crap when it’s less than a year old, with no long term safety data, using new mRNA technology that has never been used on this scale before? Disgusting the way this is rammed through and forced on people.
This is not even a year old and we are talking about it being forced injected into children? There is no long term safety data! None at all! It took 10 years of data before they mandated the Polio vaccine. It took a decade of data in the 90s before they started to mandate the chicken pox vaccine. These COVID vaccines are 10 months old!!! TEN MONTHS! And we are talking mandates already???? This is insane!
Axel Sanchez
October 26, 2021 at 11:05 am
All this is very strange, not so long ago vaccines could not be mixed, now do what you want. Personally, I wouldn’t do that.
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