On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorizations of the updated Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine booster shots.
Both are bivalent formulations of the vaccines for use as a single booster dose at least two months following primary or booster vaccination.
The bivalent vaccines, also referred to as “updated boosters,” contain two messenger RNA components of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, one of the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and the other one in common between the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.
Moderna’s vaccine, bivalent, is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 18 years of age and older. The Pfizer vaccine, bivalent, is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 12 years of age and older.
“The COVID-19 vaccines, including boosters, continue to save countless lives and prevent the most serious outcomes (hospitalization and death) of COVID-19,” FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. said. “As we head into fall and begin to spend more time indoors, we strongly encourage anyone who is eligible to consider receiving a booster dose with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants.”
The vaccine boosters can be administered once they’re approved by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
