What Makes the Updated COVID Booster Different?

With the cooler months fast approaching, children back in school, and more indoor events scheduled it is time to start thinking about the COVID booster shot. On September 1st, 2022 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a media statement recommending the updated COVID boosters made by Pfizer and Moderna. The new boosters have added an omicron BA.4 and BA.5 spike protein. Making this addition helps to target the omicron variants which have proven to be extremely contagious and sometimes immune to the previous vaccine.

Director of the CDC, Dr. Walensky was quoted in the media statement, “The updated COVID-19 boosters are formulated to better protect against the most recently circulating COVID-19 variant. They can help restore protection that has waned since previous vaccination and were designed to provide broader protection against newer variants. This recommendation followed a comprehensive scientific evaluation and robust scientific discussion. If you are eligible, there is no bad time to get your COVID-19 booster and I strongly encourage you to receive it”1.

At the end of August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the new updated version of the COVID booster. They are referring to them as “updated boosters”. The updated Pfizer booster is approved for people 12 years old and up. The updated Moderna booster is approved for people 18 years old and up. It needs to have been at least two months since your last COVID vaccine for you to be eligible for the updated booster. The FDA’s news release stated that the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron variants are causing the majority of the COVID cases in the U.S right now and are predicted to continue to spread in the upcoming months. They believe that the updated booster will provide more protection against the BA.4 and BA.5 variants2.

Per FDA Commissioner Dr. Califf, “The COVID-19 vaccines, including boosters, continue to save countless lives and prevent the most serious outcomes of COVID-19…As we head into fall and begin to spend more time indoors, we strongly encourage anyone who is eligible to consider receiving a booster dose with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants”2.

If you would like to schedule your updated booster vaccine visit vaccine.gov to find a location near you administering the updated booster.

Resources

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, September 1). CDC recommends the first updated COVID-19 booster. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/s0901-covid-19-booster.html
2. Commissioner, O. of the. (n.d.). Coronavirus (COVID-19) update: FDA authorizes Moderna, pfizer-biontech bivalent COVID-19 vaccines for use as a booster dose. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-moderna-pfizer-biontech-bivalent-covid-19-vaccines-use

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