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US drug agency approves 2nd booster shot for older people

US drug agency approves 2nd booster shot for older people

The FDA approved a second booster of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna coronavirus vaccines for older people on Tuesday.
The agency said the second booster dose may be administered to individuals 50 years and older at least four months after getting the first booster dose of any approved COVID-19 vaccine.

“This action will now make a second booster dose of these vaccines available to other populations at higher risk for severe disease, hospitalization and death,” the FDA said in a statement.

The agency also said a second booster from the vaccines may be administered to individuals 12 years and older with certain kinds of immunocompromise, four months after the first booster shot.

“These are people who have undergone solid organ transplantation, or who are living with conditions that are considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise,” it said.

“Based on an analysis of emerging data, a second booster dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine could help increase protection levels for these higher-risk individuals,” said Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

“Additionally, the data show that an initial booster dose is critical in helping to protect all adults from the potentially severe outcomes of COVID-19. So, those who have not received their initial booster dose are strongly encouraged to do so,” he said in the same statement.