FDA Authorizes Bivalent COVID-19 Booster
October 10, 2022
COVID-19: the pandemic that’s been around for over two years, the word that everyone’s tired of hearing, and the reason behind the changes in our everyday lives. With multiple variants and subvariants of the original strain, COVID-19 has infected nearly 100 million people in the United States alone. It’s been a year since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first COVID booster vaccine, and now they are administering an updated booster that targets the original strain and the variants that have developed over the years. The FDA has stated that the new “bivalent” booster can be administered “as a single booster dose at least two months following primary or booster vaccination.”
With the recent approval of a bivalent booster, it is anticipated that COVID infection rates will decrease in the fall and winter, seasons where COVID cases tend to spike. Currently, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have studied that Omicron, specifically the BA.4 and BA.5 substrains, have been the more common variants spreading during the peak of the COVID season. The Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent booster is currently available for people 12 years old and up, whereas the Moderna bivalent booster is only available for those above the age of 18 years old.
Whether you only have your primary vaccines or you have the original booster, it’s important to register for the bivalent booster, as it rolls out to local pharmacies and vaccination sites. You can visit websites for places like CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid to set up an appointment, or you can register online through Montgomery County using the link below.
Montgomery County Vaccine Registration:
https://montco-mvm.powerappsportals.com/en-US/
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant-classifications.html
