State health officials announce updates to COVID-19 vaccines
(CBS DETROIT) - State health officials announced that The Food and Drug Administration now recommends bivalent Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines be used for all doses that are administered to individuals six months of age and older.
With this update, monovalent vaccines, or vaccines with one strain of the virus, are no longer recommended in the United States.
"Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines offer critical protection from severe illness and hospitalizations," said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) chief medical executive. "Updating vaccines is a normal part of how we treat and fight diseases like COVID-19. We encourage all residents to stay up to date on all vaccines, including the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine and boosters."
According to the MDHHS, the original coronavirus vaccines for most primary and original boosters were created with the original strain that causes COVID-19. The updated bivalent vaccine protects against the most dominant coronavirus strains circulating throughout the United States.
Individuals who received the monovalent COVID-19 vaccine, and haven't received a dose of the bivalent vaccine, are eligible to receive a dose of the bivalent vaccine.
Adults 65 years and older and immunocompromised individuals are also eligible to receive an updated dose of bivalent vaccine.
For more information on receiving vaccines, visit here.