The Food and Drug Administration has decided to allow some people to get a second booster with one of the COVID-19 vaccines that have been updated to target the omicron variant, NPR has learned.
The second shots will be limited to those age 65 and older who got their first shot of the bivalent vaccine made by Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech at least four months ago, and to those with weakened immune systems who got one of those shots at least two months ago, according to a federal official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The decision to authorize a second booster is expected to be officially announced within the next two weeks.
While demand for another shot may not be high, the opportunity for extra protection will be welcomed by some people who got their first shot with one of the bivalent boosters last year.
The FDA has only authorized one booster dose of the newest formulations of the COVID vaccines. The agency was instead focusing on planning for an annual COVID booster campaign starting in the fall of 2023 — with vaccines that will have been updated to target whichever variant is expected to be circulating next winter.
But the FDA has now reconsidered the situation. This change will bring the U.S. more in line with the approach taken by Britain and Canada, which is what some vaccine specialists have been urging — especially with the ample of supply of vaccines available.
“Those doses are going to be expiring and will be thrown out. So it makes sense to have those shots in arms instead of being tossed in the waste basket,” says Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.
The main concern is that…
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