New Covid shots get green light from CDC

CDC and its advisors urge vaccinations for infants, children and adults. New shots should be available at local health sites by early next week.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tuesday recommended that virtually everyone six months and older get new Covid-19 shots, which were authorized by the Food and Drug Administration on Monday. The new shots have been updated to combat the highly infectious omicron variant and should be available at local pharmacies and other health sites throughout the nation starting by the end of this week.

The decision by CDC Director Mandy Cohen swiftly followed a 13-1 vote by the CDC’s independent advisors, who reviewed the data supporting the new vaccine formulation. There are two companies making the newly authorized vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna.

With the availability of these new vaccines, all the previous Covid vaccines are withdrawn, because the new shots are significantly more effective.

The new shots are both versions of mRNA vaccines. This technology uses mRNA to instruct the immune system how to generate antibodies capable of fighting Covid infection. The mRNA platform is appealing for urgent uses because manufacturing is much faster than traditional vaccines. Many traditional vaccines encode similar instructions into harmless virus cells. While that approach can be highly effective, making those vaccines requires growing millions of cells in laboratories, a process that takes months.

As of 5:45 PM EDT, the CVS website was accepting appointment requests for the new Covid-19 shots. In my area, the first appointments were available next week. The Walgreens website had not yet been updated to reflect the new vaccines.

Here are links to news coverage of the CDC action:

CDC recommends new covid booster shots for anyone 6 months and older - The Washington Post

US CDC panel urges broad use of updated COVID-19 vaccines | Reuters

CDC experts recommend new COVID boosters : Shots - Health News : NPR

Covid booster: CDC advisers recommend 2023 vaccine for children and adults (nbcnews.com)

CDC advisory committee recommends new COVID-19 vaccination - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

CDC advisors endorse updated COVID vaccines (axios.com)

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Disclosure: Although I have no clients with financial interests in the actions taken by federal regulators or these new Covid vaccines, I am a subcontractor to a consulting firm that supports the U.S. Administration for Strategic Preparedness & Response, a part of the Department of Health and Human Services that is involved in developing vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostic tools for Covid-19 and other public health emergencies.