WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson booster shots have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. That means all three vaccines have checked that box. We look into when they’ll be available.
Whether it’s Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson. All three booster shots have been approved by the FDA for emergency use, with Moderna and J&J getting the green light on Wednesday. Those two shots will be available to the public soon, but the data still has to go through the CDC first.
“And they look at all the data and they look at safety and age groups, ethnicity, all sorts of different information. Then they come up with a plan,” said Faith Lustik, health planner, Jefferson County Public Health.
Lustik says they’re still waiting to see who can get the booster shots and when. That guidance is expected from the CDC by the end of the week.
Then it’s up to the state Department of Health to approve it – something that could happen in short order as well. County officials say the shots could be available to people within a few days once it goes through the state.
Dr. Joseph Wetterhahn of Samaritan Family Health says he hasn’t seen any data yet for the Moderna and J&J booster shot’s efficacy, but new data for the Pfizer booster shot is impressive.
“The Pfizer booster provided 95% protection against symptomatic infection. Not just severe infection, but any kind of symptoms,” he said.
But Dr. Wetterhahn is expecting the protection from the boosters to last for a while.
“If these vaccination boosters behave like other boosters, you would expect longer immunity from a booster than you would receive from an initial series,” he said.
The FDA says mixing and matching is fine, meaning it’s okay to use any brand for the booster regardless of which vaccination people got first.
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