Since September 2022, the new updated bivalent boosters have been available at NYC Health + Hospitals facilities, local pharmacies, through healthcare providers, and through at-home vaccination for eligible New Yorkers. The updated bivalent boosters provide new and better protection against the Omicron COVID Variant and its subvariants that account for nearly all recent infections in NYC.
The new booster has been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for everyone 12 years of age and older who completed their COVID-19 primary vaccine series or received a booster shot at least two months previously. Available boosters include the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine formulations.
The updated bivalent Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine booster is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 18 years of age and older. The updated bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine booster is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 12 years of age and older.
The United Kingdom was the first country to make the bivalent vaccine booster available, doing so in mid-August. After the United States and Canada, the European Union could be next. Earlier this month, the European Medicines Agency (EMC) recommended approving revamped boosters to all 27 EU member states – something that could happen within days.
As of last week, more than 25 million doses of the updated vaccine had been delivered to tens of thousands of sites across the United States, from pharmacies to medical facilities to local government venues operating vaccination sites.
Do we know anything about the added protection provided by the bivalent booster in terms of risks for infection, transmission, serious disease or long COVID?
It’s too early to know about any of those types of protection. What’s known so far is that the new bivalent boosters increase the immune system’s antibody responses to the BA4 and BA5 Omicron variants far beyond responses seen with the earlier monovalent vaccine. Even though we don’t have data on infection and serious disease, we have reason to believe from the antibody responses that the new vaccine will provide greater protection against these newer variants.
Scheduling an appointment is preferred and is available via the Walgreens app, 1-800-WALGREENS, or online at Walgreens.com/ScheduleVaccine starting today for vaccinations. Additional appointments will be added daily as select Walgreens stores begin to receive the updated COVID-19 boosters.
