The FDA said Monday that the time between a second Moderna dose and a booster shot remains six months.
“Right now if you got a J&J, you get a booster after two months. If you got Pfizer as your primary series, you can get a booster at five months or beyond. If you got Moderna, you can get a booster at six months or beyond. Whatever you decide to get a booster of,” acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a call with reporters, per Fox News.
“So, for right now, safe action pertains to the Pfizer vaccine. The boosters for Moderna remain unchanged, for the moment, at six months,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, added.
As previously reported by Human Events News, the FDA also announced Monday that children as young as 12 may now receive the Pfizer COVID-19 booster.
“With the current wave of the omicron variant, it’s critical that we continue to take effective, life-saving preventative measures such as primary vaccination and boosters, mask wearing and social distancing in order to effectively fight COVID-19,” Woodcock said.
The FDA said it “determined that the protective health benefits of a single booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to provide continued protection against COVID-19 and the associated serious consequences that can occur including hospitalization and death, outweigh the potential risks in individuals 12 through 15 years of age.”
The FDA said that people over the age of 12 can get booster shots after only five months, compared to the previous six-month recommendation.
The FDA also recommended Monday a third primary series dose of the vaccine for “certain immunocompromised children ages 5 through 11.”