The US Food and Drug Administration Wednesday authorized its
first update to COVID-19 vaccines since they were rolled out
nearly two years ago. The authorization covers Pfizer-BioNTech’s Omicron
booster for people 12 and older and Moderna’s booster for all adults.
The updated booster shots are bivalent, targeting both the original coronavirus
strain and the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron, which account for most US
cases today.
The CDC advisory
panel recommended Thursday that eligible Americans receive the
newest booster shot that targets the Omicron subvariant. If the director of the
CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, signs off Friday, the new booster shots will be
available to millions of Americans as early as next week.
With fall and
winter approaching and the highly transmissible Omicron
subvariants circulating widely, federal officials hope the new booster shots
will help slow the spread of COVID-19 cases.
Other
top stories
- Due to insufficient funding,
the government on Friday will end its free
at-home COVID-19 test distribution program, in which
hundreds of millions of tests have been mailed out across the country.
- Moderna
filed suit against Pfizer and BioNTech on Friday over
allegations firms infringed patented technology used in the Cambridge
company's coronavirus vaccine.
Many Boston-area colleges are back in session, without COVID-19 precautions from previous years.
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