NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The Food and Drug Administration is reportedly planning to let Americans get a different vaccine booster than the kind they got the first time around.
According to a New York Times report, the government wouldn’t recommend one of the shot options over another, and could possibly say that using the same booster as someone's original shot is the preferred route. But providers would ultimately have discretion.
Researchers revealed what they found from a federally funded “mix-and-match study” last week, which found Johnson & Johnson recipients who got a Moderna booster saw a huge rise in antibodies in 15 days in comparison to another J&J dose, according to the report.
The study found that a Pfizer booster also did better than J&J, but not at the same level as the Moderna shot.
An FDA panel has recommended all J&J recipients 18 years and older to get an additional shot as soon as two months after the first dose.
That’s a departure from recommendations for the Moderna and Pfizer boosters, which have only been advised for high-risk populations and residents at least 65 years old.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said yesterday on ABC’s “This Week” that recipients of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine should “feel good” about getting its booster, noting that the vaccine likely should have been a two-dose shot in the first place.
“I think it’s very favorable for those who have received the J&J vaccine. I don’t see that as a problem at all,” Fauci said.
Fauci added that J&J recipients could be better off mixing and matching with a Moderna or Pfizer booster.
The report said feds are hoping to authorize Moderna and J&J boosters this week after Pfizer’s was given the green light last month. A CDC committee is set to talk boosters on Thursday.
Experts underscored that the mix-and-match report only utilized short-term findings of antibodies, not immune cells, according to the report.