STE. GENEVIEVE – The FDA and ACIP have approved Moderna and Janssen (Johnson and Johnson) COVID-19 vaccines for use as booster shots, and the shots could be available to Ste. Genevieve County residents soon.
Ste. Genevieve County Health Department Director Jennifer Mueller said in an email Thursday that her guess is it would be next week before the state provides the final okay to the boosters.
“While it did get FDA approval, it still needs to get ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) approval and that meeting is taking place today (Thursday). If ACIP votes in favor of the booster then I think those are the only steps before it’s actually a real thing. At that point, since the state provides us the vaccine and the standing orders to administer it, we (the health department) have to wait until we receive the official guidance from them before we can start administering it in house. My guess would be if it passes ACIP (Thurs)day then we’d likely be given the okay at some point next week.”
It is being reported that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) did vote unanimously to approve Moderna (mRNA) and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) booster doses Thursday.
A Moderna booster was approved for the same age and risk groups as the FDA did the Pfizer-BioNTech booster, and is available six or more months after completing the mRNA series (two doses). Moderna’s booster dose will be .25 mL volume, half the dosage of the original two vaccines.
The Janssen booster (second vaccine) was approved for persons 18 years and older for two or more months after receiving the initial dose.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took action to expand the use of a booster dose for COVID-19 vaccines in eligible populations. The agency is amending the emergency use authorizations (EUA) for COVID-19 vaccines to allow for the use of a single booster dose as follows:
The use of a single booster dose of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine that may be administered at least 6 months after completion of the primary series to individuals:
65 years of age and older
18 through 64 years of age at high risk of severe COVID-19
18 through 64 years of age with frequent institutional or occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2
The use of a single booster dose of the Janssen (Johnson and Johnson) COVID-19
Vaccine may be administered at least 2 months after completion of the single-dose primary regimen to individuals 18 years of age and older.
The use of each of the available COVID-19 vaccines as a heterologous (or “mix and match”) booster dose in eligible individuals following completion of primary vaccination with a different available COVID-19 vaccine.
To clarify that a single booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine may be administered at least 6 months after completion of the primary series to individuals 18 through 64 years of age with frequent institutional or occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2.