The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on April 19 that older people and people with weakened immune systems may obtain additional doses of the updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccines.
The change comes as part of the CDC’s efforts to simplify its COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. The agency said the move also gives people at higher risk of COVID-19 the option of taking additional vaccine doses.
The CDC’s new recommendations (pdf) are: Adults aged 65 and older are recommended to take an updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccine dose and have the option to obtain a second dose, provided four months have elapsed since the last one.
Meanwhile, those who are immunocompromised can obtain even more additional doses, provided two months have elapsed since the last one. “This allows more flexibility for healthcare providers to administer additional doses to immunocompromised patients as needed,” according to the agency.
Those aged 6–64 are recommended by the CDC to take one updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccine. This is regardless of whether they previously received a primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine. But those who have already received an updated (bivalent) vaccine “do not need to take any action.”
As for children under 6, the agency said the recommendations would vary by age, as well as by which COVID-19 vaccines the child has previously taken. The CDC noted that the original (monovalent) mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, which were targeted toward the original Wuhan strain, “will no longer be recommended for use in the United States.”…