By Kevin McLaughlin
The FDA has approved second Pfizer and Moderna booster shots for people aged 50+. In order to get either booster, it is required that your first booster shot was received at least four months prior. There are different requirements for people under 50 that are immunocompromised.
For the Pfizer booster, immunocompromised people between the ages of 12-50 are eligible. However for the Moderna booster, the age range is 18-50 years old.
Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said “Current evidence suggests some waning of protection over time against serious outcomes from COVID-19 in older and immunocompromised individuals. 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.”
Covid hospitalizations in the US in the past two weeks have plummeted by about 35%, to just 18,000 per day, according to the New York Times. Even though the numbers continue to trend in the right direction, it is important to stay safe so we can stay on track to beating this pandemic. People aged 50+ are the most vulnerable to being hospitalized, as one-third of people aged 50 to 65 have significant medical conditions, says the New York Times.
According to the CDC, “While the Omicron variant surged, those who were boosted were 21 times less likely to die from Covid and seven times less likely to be hospitalized than those who were not boosted.”
As Covid restrictions are a thing of the past, it is important that we continue to get boosted in order to prevent more variants from breaking out.
