Soon, two options for a fourth dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines might be available in the U.S.
Pharmaceutical company Moderna announced Thursday that it had submitted a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to grant Emergency Use Approval for a fourth dose of its Spikevax vaccine for those age 18 and older. Earlier this week, Pfizer BioNTech also requested Emergency Use Approval for a fourth dose of its vaccine for seniors.
Both the Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech vaccines have an initial two-dose course or a three-dose course for immunocompromised people.
Booster doses have also been approved for both vaccines. For most a booster dose will be their third shot, for immunocompromised people it is their fourth. The new doses the companies have requested approval for would mark the fourth dose for most people and the fifth for immunocompromised people.
For those who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, their second dose is a booster dose.
Moderna has requested approval for its next booster dose to be made available to adults who are at least 18 years old who have already received a booster shot of any approved COVID-19 vaccine.
“The request to include adults over 18 years of age was made to provide flexibility for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and healthcare providers to determine the appropriate use of an additional booster dose of mRNA-1273, including for those at higher risk of COVID-19 due to age or comorbidities,” said Moderna. “This submission is based in part on recently published data generated in the United States and Israel following the emergence of omicron.”
Data regarding the fourth dose of Pfizer’s vaccine was also provided through studies in Israel.
According to Moderna, it continues to collect and monitor real-world data on its Spikevax doses, and research is underway for a vaccine specifically targeting the omicron variant, which is the most common form of COVID-19 in the U.S.
As of Thursday, around 96 million people in the U.S. were fully vaccinated and had received a booster dose, according to the CDC. Overall, a little more than 44% of the population has received a COVD-19 vaccine booster.
Related
Related
