COVID-19 Vaccine Information
Prepare For Your Visit:
Full Circle Health follows CDC guidelines to help keep all patients and staff safe. Full Circle Health follows evidence-based guidelines for COVID treatment and encourages COVID vaccination for everyone age 6 months and older. If you have an elevated temperature, or new onset of cough, difficulty breathing, congestion, or sore throat, please wear a mask at your appointment.
FDA Authorizes Changes to Simplify Use of Bivalent mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines
April 20, 2023
This week the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. The monovalent Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are no longer authorized for use in the United States.
Bivalent vaccines containing the original and omicron BA.4/BA.5 strains are the only authorized mRNA vaccines for doses administered to people 6 months of age and older.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has simplified COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met to discuss COVID-19 vaccine recommendation changes on April 19th. There was no vote at the meeting, but ACIP members expressed support for revised recommendations.
Revised mRNA vaccine recommendations:
- Monovalent (original) mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for use in the United States.
- An additional bivalent vaccine dose for adults ages 65 years and older and additional doses for people who are immunocompromised is allowed. This provides flexibility for healthcare providers to administer additional doses to immunocompromised patients as needed.
- Everyone 6 years of age and older should receive a bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose, regardless of whether they previously completed the monovalent primary series.
- People 6 years of age and older who have already received the bivalent mRNA vaccine do not need to take any action unless they are 65 years or older or immunocompromised.
- For children younger than 6 years of age, multiple doses continue to be recommended and will vary by age, vaccine, and which vaccines were previously received.
Alternatives to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines remain available for people who cannot or will not receive an mRNA vaccine. CDC’s recommendations for use of Novavax or Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccines were not affected by the changes.
CDC will update their website, including the Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines in the United States and additional COVID-19 vaccine webpages.
CDC and ACIP will continue to monitor COVID-19 disease levels and vaccine effectiveness.