“WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.

The Food and Drug Administration said anyone 65 or older can opt to roll up their sleeves again as long as it's been at least four months since their first dose of the so-called bivalent vaccine that targets omicron strains.


And most people who are immune-compromised can choose another bivalent booster shot at least two months later, with additional doses in the future at the discretion of their physician.


The original news article: https://apnews.com/article/covid19-vaccine-booster-bivalent-a80a6f3dbb39e66053e2b7129077f43b

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Related News

"Single Dose of Omicron-Targeting Vaccines to Become Main Covid-19 Shot in U.S."

For people seeking their first Covid-19 vaccination going forward. They will only need to get a single dose, instead of the two doses currently recommended.

The move may also result in more high risk people, who have been waiting for an official sign off on a second shot, getting boosters.

The mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and its partner BioNTech SE and from Moderna Inc. have been around since December 2020. To date, people in the U.S. seeking their first Covid-19 vaccinations have gotten two doses of the original vaccines. Americans seeking messenger RNA vaccines for Covid-19 for the first time will get one, updated shot targeting both the Omicron variant and the original strain of the virus under new moves rolled out Tuesday by federal health officials.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will need to recommend the new vaccination regimen and second booster before they become widely available.
This still has not happened yet.
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Reformulated versions targeting the Omicron strain and the original strain were first released last September but only as boosters.

Federal health authorities and many doctors and scientists have encouraged people to get the updated boosters to better protect against Omicron, the dominant strain of the virus in the U.S. They say people at high risk need more frequent boosting to bolster their immune defenses.

“Boosting the severely immunocompromised and anyone over 60 at least every six months is warranted even during times of less prevalence” of Covid-19, said Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.

Yet uptake of the updated shots has been limited overall. Some 17% of the U.S. population received a dual-targeted or bivalent booster, compared with 70% who got the full series of initial shots, according to the CDC.

A Pfizer spokesman said the company supported the FDA’s changes.“We will continue working closely with FDA, CDC and other public health authorities,” he said. “We anticipate another update from FDA in June that will provide further guidance on Covid-19 vaccine strains and vaccination timing for the 2023 fall and winter seasons.”
The Wall Street Journal