BREAKING: U.S. regulators approve booster shots for the Moderna and J&J coronavirus vaccines as well as mixing and matching booster doses between the three authorized vaccines.
The FDA rulings differ because the vaccines are made differently, with different dosing schedules — and the J&J vaccine has consistently shown a lower level of effectiveness than either of the two-shot Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
The decision was based on preliminary results from a government study of different booster combinations that showed an extra dose of any type revs up levels of virus-fighting antibodies. That study also showed recipients of the single-dose J&J vaccination had a far bigger response if they got a full-strength Moderna booster or a Pfizer booster rather than a second J&J shot. That study didn’t test the half-dose Moderna booster.
“The available data suggest waning immunity in some populations who are fully vaccinated,” FDA acting commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in a statement Wednesday. “The availability of these authorized boosters is important for continued protection against COVID-19 disease.” FDA recommended that everyone who’d gotten the single-shot J&J vaccine get a booster since it has consistently shown lower protection than its two-shot rivals. And several independent FDA advisers who backed the booster decision suggested J&J’s vaccine should have originally been designed to require two doses.
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