Report: FDA To Allow Americans To Mix And Match COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Doses
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Top health leaders are expected to make an announcement pertaining to the mixing and matching of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses.
According to the New York Times, the FDA is reportedly planning to allow vaccinated individuals to receive a different COVID-19 vaccine booster dose from the original shot they received.
For example, if you got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you would be able to get a booster dose of Pfizer's vaccine.
Government leaders would not recommend one shot over another, and may say that using the same vaccine for the booster dose is preferable.
However, the allowing to mix and match doses would provide some flexibility for healthcare providers.
Providers would be able to choose the brand of vaccine they'd like to offer, which is what state health leaders have been requesting for weeks.
"The vaccines continue to be absolutely fundamental to controlling this virus. Yes, they're not perfect. Not much in life is. But boy, these vaccines continue to be excellent," said Dr. William Schaffner with Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
This all comes after researchers presented the outcome of a 'Mix and Match' vaccine study to FDA advisers.
The study reveled that those who received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine and then received a Moderna booster shot saw their antibody levels increase 76-fold in 15 days, compared to only a four-fold increase after a Johnson & Johnson booster.
Pfizer's booster dose also raised antibody levels, but not as much as Moderna's.
The FDA is expected to authorize Moderna's and Johnson & Johnson's booster doses by Wednesday evening.
The mix and match approach to booster doses could also be approved by then as well.
Stay with KDKA for more on this developing story.
