The FDA revoked the expedited licensing of the first generation of COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer.
More than two years have passed since both vaccines, produced under Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, were given the green light for emergency use.
Monovalent Vs. Bivalent
A spokesperson for the Montgomery County Health Department in Ohio said that after the FDA revised its emergency use authorization for monovalent COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer, the state’s health department informed Miami Valley school districts on Tuesday, April 18.
Many people in the United States received the monovalent COVID-19 vaccines when the pandemic first broke out.
These vaccines were produced using a single strain of the coronavirus, the one from which they were derived. According to a press release from the Washington State Department of Health, bivalent versions of the boosters made by Pfizer and Moderna were developed in response to the emergence of viral alterations.
Bivalent vaccines contain two different virus strains, as opposed to only one. Both the original coronavirus strain and the newer omicron strains, BA.4 and BA.5, were used to develop the upgraded Pfizer and Moderna boosters.
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Guidelines
The following recommendations for administering the bivalent Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines were supplied by the Ohio Department of Health:
- A second bivalent vaccine dosage may be administered to anyone aged 65 and up 4 months following their initial bivalent vaccination.
- Those who did not obtain all of the primary series vaccines have until 2 months after their last monovalent immunization to receive the bivalent vaccine.
- Those who choose to initiate vaccination against COVID-19 need only receive a single dose of the bivalent vaccine.
Those under the age of six months are not eligible to get the bivalent Pfizer vaccinations.
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