hHealth officials say it’s time for most Americans to get another booster dose — this time, with a new one Omicron shot Manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech (for adults 12 and over) or Moderna (for adults 18 and over). But should you stick with the brand of vaccine you’ve been using, or can you mix and match? Here’s what you need to know.
Mixing and matching booster potions can probably be good
Several COVID-19 vaccines have become available in the United States since the first shots were allowed at the end of 2020. Currently, two primary series COVID-19 vaccines (produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Agency Administration (FDA), and two (made by Johnson & Johnson-Janssen and Novavax) are authorized for emergency use. The shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are approved as booster doses, and J&J’s Booster is allowed for use by those who have received this brand for an initial dose of one dose, or for those who cannot safely receive other boosters due to the risk of side effects.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people not mix two primary doses of the mRNA vaccine – so if you were vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech for your first dose, for example, your second dose should also be from Pfizer-BioNTech; The same goes for Moderna. But the abundance of options means you may have already received a booster dose from a different manufacturer, and that’s okay. studies They showed that people who received booster doses of mRNA from the original vaccine made by a different manufacturer than those from the initial series produced similar antiviral antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, compared to people who got the same brand of primary and booster vaccines.
This was the case with the original vaccines and boosters. But Human studies of the new Omicron enhancers are not complete As of now – it will be launched in September – so there is no data yet on what happens when people vaccinated with one company’s shots get an Omicron booster by a different company. It is also not clear what happens, for example, if a person who was vaccinated with a dose of Moderna, and then was boosted with Pfizer-BioNTech, now gets a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna Omicron booster.
But based on previous mix-and-match studies, health officials are relatively confident that the stimulant doses are interchangeable, and that the Centers for Disease Control Says People over the age of 18 “may get a different enhanced product than they got for their base chain, as long as it’s Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.”
One thing to keep in mind, however, is that Moderna’s vaccine doses were slightly higher than those of Pfizer-BioNTech. The same is true of the new Omicron booster from Moderna. The higher dose means that people getting Omicron Moderna booster may experience slightly higher rates of side effects, such as swelling, arm soreness, fever, and fatigue than people getting Pfizer-BioNTech. But it will likely come with an advantage, if the experience of the original booster shots is any guide. earlier studies People who got the original Moderna booster suggested that they produced higher levels of anti-virus antibodies than people who got the Pfizer-BioNTech booster.
Can you mix and match baby booster doses?
It depends on your child’s age and which vaccine they’ve had as a primary series. Children aged 12 to 17 years who have been vaccinated with Moderna or Pfizer-BioN Tech shots whose primary series can be boosted with the new Omicron Booster from Pfizer BioN Tech. None of the Omicron Booster is yet approved for children under 12 – so these children will still receive a booster dose of the original vaccine (if they qualify for the booster).
If your child has been vaccinated with Moderna as the primary series, booster doses of Moderna of any kind — the original or Omicron’s — have not been approved for children 6 months to 11 years old yet. Children in this age group who have been vaccinated with Moderna are not recommended to receive a booster dose at this time. Children ages 5 to 11 who have been vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech can only get the original booster vaccine, not the bivalent Omicron booster, made with Pfizer-BioNTech.
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