FDA authorizes new omicron-variant COVID boosters

A new booster shot that targets the highly contagious omicron variant of COVID-19 could be available within days, after the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized the modified vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer.

The shots are expected to be available soon after Labor Day.

“You’ll see me at the front of the line,” FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said Wednesday.

The new U.S. boosters are “bivalent” vaccines that target both the original COVID strain and omicron subvariants.

“These updated boosters present us with an opportunity to get ahead” of the next COVID wave, expected to hit as the weather cools down, said FDA Commissioner Robert Califf.

Both Pfizer and Moderna’s updates are intended for people who have already been vaccinated. Vaccines from Pfizer are for anyone 12 and older, while Moderna’s will be for those 19 and above.

Before the boosters hit pharmacies across the city, there’s one more hurdle. The CDC’s vaccine advisory group is scheduled to meet and vote on Thursday, and the CDC director must then sign off. Among the decisions they need to make is who should get the boosters first.

A droplet falls from a syringe after a health care worker was injected with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Providence, R.I. (David Goldman/)

The U.S. has already bought more than 170 million doses of the updated Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in the hopes of staving off another surge in cases in the fall and winter.

“As we head into fall and begin to spend more time indoors, we strongly encourage anyone who is eligible to consider receiving a booster dose with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants,” Califf said in a statement.

With News Wire Services