The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the updated Covid-19 jabs for people of 12 years of age and older. And the FDA has also authorised them for emergency use in babies as young as six months old.
The tweaked mRNA vaccines are “formulated to more closely target currently circulating variants and to provide better protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death”, said the FDA in an announcement made on Monday (September 11).
The FDA said: “Today’s actions relate to updated mRNA vaccines for 2023-2024 manufactured by ModernaTX Inc. and Pfizer Inc. Consistent with the totality of the evidence and input from the FDA’s expert advisors, these vaccines have been updated to include a monovalent (single) component that corresponds to the Omicron variant XBB.1.5.”
“The updated mRNA vaccines are each approved for individuals 12 years of age and older and are authorized under emergency use for individuals 6 months through 11 years of age. As part of today’s actions, the bivalent Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are no longer authorized for use in the United States.”
Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said: “Vaccination remains critical to public health and continued protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death.
“The public can be assured that these updated vaccines have met the agency’s rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality. We very much encourage those who are eligible to consider getting vaccinated.”
