Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 Omicron Boosters Get OK from the FDA

The immunizations are designed to target the latest Omicron subvariants, and are only authorized for people who have already received their primary vaccinations.

Written byCatherine Offord

| 3 min read

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Update (September 2): The CDC greenlighted the use of the Moderna and Pfizer Omicron boosters yesterday, meaning that the shots could start being administered within days. People must have had their most recent COVID-19 jab at least two months previously—a cutoff that several members of a panel of expert advisers to the CDC suggested was too short, according to The New York Times.

Update (September 1): The European Medicines Agency today has recommended the authorization of both the Pfizer and Moderna Omicron booster shots, which it says in a statement can both be used in people aged 12 years old and up. Meanwhile, Health Canada has approved the Moderna booster shot in people aged 18 and over.

Two sorts of booster shots designed to protect people against the latest Omicron subvariants of SARS-CoV-2 received emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration today (August 31), the agency has ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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