coronavirus pandemic

Moderna Asks FDA to Authorize Its Updated Covid Booster Shot

The drugmaker’s application to the FDA, which covers adults ages 18 and older, follows a similar request from Pfizer-BioNTech on Monday

A single-use syringe awaits to be filled with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from a Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center nurse, at an inoculation station next to Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, July 19, 2022.
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

Moderna said Tuesday it had asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize an updated version of its Covid booster shot that targets the highly contagious BA.5 omicron subvariant.

The drugmaker’s application to the FDA, which covers adults ages 18 and older, follows a similar request from Pfizer-BioNTech on Monday. Pfizer is seeking authorization for everyone 12 and older.

Like Pfizer’s updated booster, Moderna’s so-called bivalent vaccine is specifically designed to target omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, as well as the original coronavirus strain in a single shot. The move follows a recommendation from the FDA in June to modify the vaccines to target the two subvariants.

While COVID-19 cases are declining overall, experts are worried the trend could change due to the two new subvariants.

For more on this story, go to NBC News.

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