Moderna has submitted its data to the FDA to review, and the agency is expected to make a recommendation in coming weeks. The FDA and CDC have only reviewed the safety and efficacy of boosters using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. If I’ve been vaccinated with Moderna or Johnson&Johnson-Janssen, can I get a booster?Īt the moment, no. Israeli health officials also reported that older individuals who got a booster dose were 11 times less likely to get infected with SARS-CoV-2, and 19.5 times less likely to get severe COVID-19 than those receiving only two doses. In a study of a several hundred people who received a booster dose, researchers from Pfizer-BioNTech reported that the additional dose is safe and can raise antibody levels back up to those achieved immediately after the second dose, particularly among people over age 65 years. Still, the waning immunity worries public health officials, especially since the Delta variant, which spreads more quickly, is now the dominant version of the virus behind new infections around the world. Taken together, these data showed that after several months, levels of virus-fighting antibodies start to drop-though they also showed that people are still protected from getting severe COVID-19 disease and getting hospitalized.
The agencies also looked at data from Israel, where some people have been getting booster doses since July 30. These decisions came after the FDA and CDC reviewed studies from Pfizer-BioNTech on the safety and efficacy of a booster dose among a broader group of people who received the approved two doses of the shot, and then got another dose at least six months later. The FDA and CDC now recommend that people who were originally vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot should get a booster six months after their last dose if:
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) authorized booster shots for anyone who has been vaccinated with either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shots against COVID-19 and has a compromised immune system due to, for example, chronic illnesses, transplant surgery or cancer treatment, among others.Īs of September 2021, that recommendation expanded to include certain people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Who is eligible for a booster shot right now? There is some evidence that with each additional shot, the body starts making higher quality antibodies that are better at recognizing and blocking new variants of the virus, including Delta. Several months after getting the vaccine, the level of antibodies against the COVID-19 virus starts to wane, so public health officials feel that it makes sense to boost those numbers back up with another dose of the shot. They are slightly less effective in protecting you from getting infected with the virus in the first place, but people who are vaccinated still have a five times lower rate of infection with SARS-CoV-2 than people who aren’t vaccinated, and a more than 10-fold rate of hospitalizations and deaths from the Delta variant of the virus. The three vaccines that are currently available in the U.S.-from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson&Johnson-Janssen-are still highly effective in protecting you from getting COVID-19 disease. If the vaccines work, why do I need a booster?
Public health officials don’t agree on whether everyone needs a booster yet, and in the same way that the vaccines were rolled out to different groups of people one category at a time as government agencies reviewed studies to make sure they were safe and effective, boosters are being doled out to certain people first. There’s been quite a bit of news about COVID-19 booster shots lately, and it’s been more confusing than reassuring.
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