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upstart writes:

CDC panel recommends boosters for many Americans:

People who received either Moderna's or Pfizer's vaccine should get a COVID-19 vaccine booster at least six months after their second shot if they're age 65 or older or living in a long-term care facility, if they're an adult at risk of severe COVID-19 because of a medical condition, or if they're an adult at risk because of their work or setting. The committee didn't recommend a particular booster.

Every person age 18 and older who received Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine should also get a COVID-19 vaccine booster at least two months after their shot, the panel voted. The committee didn't recommend a particular booster. For both groups, the vote was a 15-0 "yes."

Before the recommendation becomes official CDC guidance, the committee's vote will need to be approved by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. Once it's accepted, there will be additional clinical considerations and guidance for individuals to decide if they need a booster, or which vaccine they should receive. Then the booster campaign will be officially rolled out for millions more people who qualify.

On Wednesday, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized booster doses of Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, and it also authorized the use of mixing COVID-19 shots as booster doses, meaning an eligible adult can get a different COVID-19 vaccine as a booster, as long as they qualify based on what shot they originally received.

[...] Members discussed data that showed that while Moderna's vaccine does have some waning effectiveness, it continues to do its job for most people at protecting against severe disease and death from COVID-19. Effectiveness of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine hasn't shown evidence of waning over time like Moderna and Pfizer's has, but a boost will bring protection up to the level of the mRNA vaccines.

Committee members capitalized on the FDA's authorization of mixing COVID-19 vaccines for boosters in their recommendation and didn't recommend people stick to their brand, partly over concerns of a blanket recommendation of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine. Johnson & Johnson is linked to a rare but serious blood clotting condition, though very rare in the general population at 47 cases out of 15 million vaccine recipients in the US, the vast majority of them were in women under 50. Another rare side affect of J&J is a rare neurological disorder found mostly in adult men.

Also at Ars Technica.

Original Submission