The Food and Drug Administration signed off on updated COVID boosters from both Moderna and Pfizer on Monday, setting the stage for a rollout at a time when some communities across the country, including in Illinois, are experiencing a rise in COVID cases.
Designed to specifically combat the XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant, the shots will more closely target related variants that are circulating nationwide, including FL.1.5.1 and EG.5, which remains the dominant strain across the U.S.
Shots could be in arms later this week, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's director expected to sign off after its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meets on Tuesday.
The developments come as health officials attempt to shore up protection against COVID ahead of the fall and winter, a time when respiratory infections typically rise.
Under FDA guidelines, anyone 5 years old and above will be able to receive a single dose of either updated COVID vaccine, regardless if they have been previously vaccinated or not. Health officials recommend that people wait at least two months since their last COVID vaccination before getting another dose.
In the case of children and infants who are 6 months old through 4 years old, they will be eligible to receive either one or two doses of the updated mRNA vaccine, with the timing and number of doses depending on the number of vaccines previously administered, according to the FDA.
Parents of children who are in that same age range, but are unvaccinated, have two different options. Their children will be eligible to receive either three doses of the updated Pfizer vaccine or two doses of Moderna's updated shot. Additional doses might be necessary for some children who are immunocompromised, the FDA said.
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Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use mRNA technology and are manufactured using a similar process as previous iterations. Citing recent studies, the FDA said vaccines are a "good match" for protecting against currently circulating COVID variants.
Dr. Eric Topol, executive vice president of Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, told NBC News he is “not concerned” about vaccine effectiveness, saying that the vaccines developed so far have consistently shown to provide protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death.
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“The new booster will certainly ameliorate protection,” Topol said.
If you haven't received a booster shot since last fall and haven't recently have COVID, doctors suggest you get a booster as soon as you can.
