WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. health regulators on Friday cut the wait time for people to receive a booster dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine: five months instead of six.
Moderna’s two-dose vaccine is available to all Americans 18 years of age and older. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision means that those who received the Moderna vaccine are eligible to receive the booster dose five months after their last injection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agreed with the change.
The measure follows new recommendations for those who received the Pfizer vaccine. Pfizer initial vaccinations are now available for children 5 years and older, but only those vaccinated with Pfizer at least 12 years of age are eligible for a vaccine. Federal health authorities said this week that they can receive the booster dose five months after their last injection.
In a statement, the FDA’s director of vaccination, Peter Marks, said that inoculations “are our best defense against COVID-19” and said that a shorter wait time to receive the booster dose could help at times when The country is grappling with a spike in infections driven by the highly contagious omicron variant.
Authorities already recommend a booster dose of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine two months after the initial injection.
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