WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday authorized booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
Paramedic Jose Colon administers a shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to Eric Hernandez at a mobile vaccination site in Orlando. (File photo: VCG)
The FDA also authorized "mix and match" booster dose for currently available approved COVID-19 vaccines.
A single booster dose of any of the available COVID-19 vaccines may be administered as a "mix and match" booster dose following completion of primary vaccination with a different available COVID-19 vaccine, according to the FDA.
The agency approved the use of a single booster dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after completion of the primary shots to people 65 years of age and older, 18 through 64 years of age at high risk of severe COVID-19, and 18 through 64 years of age with frequent institutional or occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2.
As for the Johnson & Johnson booster dose, the FDA authorized the use of a single booster dose at least 2 months after completion of the single-dose primary regimen to individuals 18 years of age and older.
The decision came after an FDA advisory committee voted last week to recommend authorizing Moderna and Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 booster doses.
