The Food and Drug Administration authorized booster doses for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, bringing them on par with the Pfizer vaccine, and the FDA also approved mixing the various formulations for the third booster shot, the Associated Press reports.
The move still needs approval by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel before it takes effect. The CDC panel will be the final recommendation on who can get a booster shot and when. Currently, people over the age of 65, those with underlying conditions and people at high-risk jobs are eligible for getting a third Pfizer shot.
The FDA panel also recommended all people who got a J&J single-dose shot can get a J&J booster at least two months after their vaccination. The J&J version has a lower effectiveness against the coronavirus, and the second dose is expected to greatly increase patients’ ability to stave off the coronavirus.
The final recommendation is expected to approve a booster shot for people who got the Moderna and Pfizer shot, regardless of the original version the patient received. The FDA panel recommended that patients get a half-dose of Moderna for the third shot.
The panel found that people who got the J&J vaccine got significantly higher immunity response by having a second, full dose of the Moderna or Pfizer shot.