BY MELISSA PATRICK
KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS
The best way to protect yourself from severe illness, hospitalization and death from Covid-19 is to get vaccinated and boosted.
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a second Omicron booster, also referred to as the bivalent Covid-19 vaccine, for immunocompromised people and people over the age of 65.
The FDA says people over 65 qualify for the second booster if they got their initial bivalent dose at least four months ago. Immunocompromised people can get another bivalent dose at least two months after their initial bivalent shot. Further, the FDA says that additional doses could be warranted for immunocompromised people at the discretion of their health care provider.
For young kids (ages 6 months through 4 years) who are immunocompromised, however, eligibility for additional doses will depend on the vaccine they previously received, the agency said.
The new guidance also says that a single dose of a bivalent vaccine will suffice as initial vaccination for unvaccinated adults instead of the two doses of the original vaccine.
Further, anyone who has not yet been boosted with the bivalent vaccine is eligible for a single dose of it. If you’ve already received the bivalent booster and you are not over 65 or immunosuppressed, you do not qualify for a second booster.
“The FDA intends to make decisions about future vaccination after receiving recommendations on the fall strain composition at an FDA advisory committee in June,” says the agency.
The new recommendations also set new rules for children, depending on their age and their vaccine history.
“At this stage of the pandemic, data support simplifying the use of the authorized mRNA bivalent Covid-19 vaccines and the agency believes that this approach will help encourage future vaccination,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a news release.
He added, “Covid-19 continues to be a very real risk for many people, and we encourage individuals to consider staying current with vaccination, including with a bivalent Covid-19 vaccine. The available data continue to demonstrate that vaccines prevent the most serious outcomes of Covid-19, which are severe illness, hospitalization and death.”
Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.