Sept. 11, 2023 – The FDA at this time approved the latest COVID-19 vaccine, the primary to not goal the preliminary or “ancestral” pressure of the virus.
Final yr, the FDA approved a bivalent vaccine aimed toward each the previous and the brand new. This time, it’s a “monovalent” or single-strain vaccine with one most important goal: to attenuate well being dangers, hospitalizations, and deaths related to newer variants just like the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant. Additionally it is anticipated to offer some safety in opposition to associated variants at the moment in circulation.
The FDA emergency authorization applies to vaccines made by each Pfizer and Moderna.
Two steps stay earlier than you will get the booster at your physician’s workplace or native pharmacy, nevertheless. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, is predicted to vote on approving the brand new vaccine this week. Then the brand new director of the CDC, Mandy Cohen, MD, MPH, should log off.
The FDA stated the vaccine is permitted for anybody age 5 and older no matter earlier vaccination standing so long as it’s been greater than 2 months because you’ve obtained a COVID shot.
Kids 6 months by means of age 4 who’ve obtained at the very least one earlier COVID vaccine are eligible for one or two doses of the brand new vaccine. You’ll want to talk to your pediatrician to verify dosage.
Kids in the identical age group who’ve by no means obtained a COVID vaccine are eligible for 3 doses of the brand new Pfizer vaccine or two doses of the brand new Moderna components.
“The FDA is assured within the security and effectiveness of those up to date vaccines and the company’s benefit-risk evaluation demonstrates that the advantages of those vaccines for people 6 months of age and older outweigh their dangers,” the company stated in a press release.
The quantity of people that received the earlier booster fell wanting expectations. In most locations all through america, 20% or much less of the inhabitants obtained the up to date bivalent vaccine since its approval Sept. 1, 2022, for instance. Solely in seven states and the District of Columbia does the proportion go above 25%, in keeping with a CDC map.
A serious unknown is how the price of the brand new boosters, now not freed from cost, may have an effect on their uptake. The producers estimate that with out medical insurance they’ll price $110 to $130 for every dose.
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