New COVID -19 booster approved by the FDA

Earlier this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine comes after a surge of hospitalizations because of new strains of the virus, including EG.5 AND BA.286

The previous COVID-19 vaccine was bi-valent, targeting the original COVID-19 variant and Omicron both BA.4 and BA.5

Joshua Dakon, Director of Pharmacy for Augusta Health, said no date has been announced when the vaccine will be out for distribution, however, he predicts it will be very soon.

“We know that this virus changes rapidly, and the variants causing disease in 2021 and 2022 are different from the variants that are circulating today.” Dakon said.

The new vaccine that’s manufactured by ModernaTX Inc and Pfizer Inc., targets the new variants circulating and helps protect against serious symptoms of the virus.

Dakon said the pharmacy received notice the vaccines are now available for order.

“Unfortunately, it’s unclear when those shipments will arrive. It’s our hope that we can begin vaccinating the public as soon as possible, but more realistically probably early October.” Dakon said.

Dakon said per CDC guidelines, anyone who has not received a vaccine in the past two months and is six months or older should get the new booster.

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