Booster doses of the two updated vaccines were released. In the case of Pfizer, for people over 12 years old, and to receive the Moderna vaccine, over 18. The authorization announcement was made by the American drug regulatory agency (FDA), this Wednesday (31).
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The FDA is a body equivalent to the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) of the United States. The new versions of the drugs may be available in the country next week.
How vaccines work
The new generation of vaccines is aimed at both the original strain of covid-19 and the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of omicron. This last strain represents almost 90% of infections in the United States.
Therefore, immunizers should “offer greater protection against the omicron variant currently circulating,” wrote the FDA.
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At the beginning of the summer, the United States Department of Health announced that it had purchased 105 million doses from Pfizer and 66 million from Moderna for use during the fall and winter in the northern hemisphere, a period in which increased contamination is common.
CDC has not yet authorized
Vaccines have not yet been recommended by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country's main public health agency.
The CDC convened a committee of independent experts to discuss the topic this Thursday (01/09). After these consultations, it will be up to the agency's director – Rochelle Walensky – to give definitive authorization to the immunizers.
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Why were they renewed?
The vaccines currently circulating were designed to protect against the initial strain of the virus, which was first reported in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. However, over time, vaccines lost effectiveness in the face of variants that emerged, due to the rapid evolution of the virus.
Unlike the alpha and delta variants, who succumbed, the omicron and its subvariants began to gradually dominate contagions in 2022 around the worldsystem. ((CNN) New generations were produced to create a restoration of initial immunity against infection. They can also help protect against “long Covid”, according to the FDA.
Booster vaccines can be administered two months after the previous dose (booster, or the initial vaccination cycle). The dose is 30 micrograms in the case of Pfizer, and 50 micrograms in the case of Moderna.
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(With AFP)
