PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Millions more Americans are closer to getting a COVID-19 booster as influential government advisers on Thursday endorsed extra doses of all three of the nation’s vaccines — and said people could choose a different company’s brand for that next shot.
The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel approved the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine boosters Thursday, along with the ability to switch vaccine brands when choosing a COVID-19 booster shot. This comes a day after the FDA gave the OK to move forward with those boosters.
What authorities backed for Moderna is similar to their recommendation for Pfizer: boosters for people 65 and older and adults with underlying health issues or who are at high risk, six months after full two-dose vaccination. The booster is half the dosage of the initial Moderna shots.
For J&J, it’s adults 18 and up, at least two months after the initial single-shot vaccination.
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KYW Medical Editor Dr. Brian McDonough says health experts envision a lot more flexibility with the ability to mix or match boosters and vaccines.
"It will allow ease of access -- in other words, rev up your immune system, but also allow people, let’s say in long-term care facilities, not to have to wait for a specific vaccine to get that booster," McDonough said.
FDA officials believe most patients will just match the booster to the vaccine they first got. But if patients don’t, they say, the data now shows this mixed approach is safe and effective.
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