FDA authorizes Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters and says people can get a shot different from their original dose

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Wed, 2021-10-20 17:20 — mike kraft

FDA authorizes Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters and says people can get a shot different from their original dose Washington Post

Millions more people in the United States will soon be able to receive an extra shot of any coronavirus vaccine, regardless of their initial vaccination — a flexibility that comes along with the authorization Wednesday of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson booster shots by federal regulators.

The decision by the Food and Drug Administration paves the way for boosters of all three authorized shots to be available to a wide swath of the U.S. population and promises to ease the logistics of the booster campaign for pharmacies and clinics offering vaccines.

The action, arriving as the U.S. death toll from the pandemic exceeds 728,000 and tens of millions of Americans have yet to get their first shot against the virus, largely fulfills the Biden administration’s controversial pledge this summer that booster shots would be widely available. That move drew criticism because it leaped ahead of decisions by scientific agencies and triggered a fierce debate about whether those extra shots were warranted now, and for whom.

The Johnson & Johnson booster was authorized for anyone 18 and over — a broad eligibility criteria reflecting the lower protection of the initial single-shot regimen when compared with other coronavirus vaccines. The Moderna booster, a half-dose of the original shot, was authorized for people 65 and older, or adults at risk of severe illness or complications because of underlying medical conditions or exposure on the job.

That means someone who received the Johnson & Johnson product can get a booster dose with Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech, as long as the person is 18 or older, meeting the criteria to get a booster. And someone who has been fully vaccinated with Moderna could get a booster with Johnson & Johnson or Pfizer, if they are older than 65 or older, or at high risk.

Only 15 million Americans were initially vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson shots, which arrived later and were further delayed by an investigation of a rare adverse event and manufacturing problems. About 70 million Americans are fully vaccinated with Moderna, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The booster shots could start to be given by the end of the week, pending a meeting of CDC advisers and a decision by the agency’s director, Rochelle Walensky. Last month, a third shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine became available for the same at-risk population included in Moderna’s authorization.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is likely to provide more detailed guidance and recommend that individuals try to get a booster of the same vaccine as their initial series, but allow for mixing and matching, according to federal health officials. ...

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