RALEIGH — Wednesday, the FDA authorized both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent COVID-19 booster dose, which protects against the original as well as the Omicron strain. The FDA stated that the new boosters “are expected to provide increased protection against the currently circulating omicron variant.” As a result of the FDA’s action, the original booster dose, which contains one strain of the virus, is no longer authorized for people 12 and older. The original booster is still authorized for children ages 5-11 years old.
The CDC must recommend both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent COVID-19 booster dose for people 12 and over before vaccinations can begin. That means that booster doses for people 12 and older are not currently available, but they will be available next week pending the CDC’s recommendation.
North Carolina has nearly 500,000 doses arriving in state over the next two weeks, with 229,000 of those doses going to federal pharmacies (CVS, Walgreens, etc.). We expect that the new booster shots for people 12 and over will be available by Tuesday, depending on the CDC recommendation.
FDA Authorizes Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech Bivalent COVID-19 Vaccines for Use as a Booster Dose
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