CDC Authorizes Boosters of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccines

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), authorized booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines for certain groups. Walensky followed the advice of a CDC expert panel, which recommended the boosters in in two unanimous votes earlier in the day. The 15-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) advised that anyone who was initially vaccinated with the Moderna shot get a booster at least six months later, and that J&J-Janssen recipients receive a booster at least two months after their initial vaccination. The endorsement follows a similar decision from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Both the FDA and the CDC also back mixing or matching of booster doses, permitting people to receive any of the three authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccines, from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and J&J-Janssen, as the booster dose. The Moderna booster will be half the dose of the original dose. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “The evidence shows that all three COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States are safe – as demonstrated by the over 400 million vaccine doses already given,” said Walensky in a statement announcing her decision “And, they are all highly effective in reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even in the midst of the widely circulating Delta variant.” For now, the decision only applies to certain groups of people who have been vaccinated a...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news