According to CDC statistics, just 42.6% of older Americans have received the first booster of the new bivalent vaccination, which means that around 23 million of them are now qualified for the second booster.
The FDA’s health authorities gave their approval to the revised guidelines earlier in the week, and the CDC accepted them on Wednesday.
All individuals are no longer advised to get the original mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations. Moderna and Pfizer’s updated boosters, which provide defense against both the original virus and the omicron form, received approval last year.
People who are unable to or unwilling to take an mRNA vaccination are currently the only ones for whom vaccines prepared by Johnson & Johnson and Novavax are advised.
Fewer Americans are hurrying to receive the new immunizations as the epidemic has subsided. According to CDC statistics, on April 5, the 7-day moving average for updated boosters fell to an all-time low of 39,942.
“Evidence is now available that most Americans aged 5 and older have antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, either from vaccination or infection,” said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a statement this week. “This can serve as a foundation for the protection provided by the bivalent vaccines.
Anyone 6 years of age and older should get one booster dose of the new vaccination, according to the CDC. The World Health Organization, on the other hand, released new guidelines last month that classify healthy children between the ages of 6 months and 17 as low risk, indicating they may not need to be vaccinated.