CDC Explains: Who Should Get the COVID-19 Bivalent Booster?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) took a step this week toward simplifying COVID-19 recommendations and allowing older adults who may be at higher risk some flexibility when it comes to getting a second dose of the vaccine to further boost protection.

The new recommendations allow an updated bivalent vaccine dose for adults 65 years and older and another dose for people with compromised immune systems. The move was done to allow more flexibility for health-care providers to administer additional doses for patients who may be at high risk of contracting the virus.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took an important step today to clarify when and how often individuals should receive a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine,” Carlos del Rio, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said in a statement. “The new, streamlined vaccination schedule provides clear, actionable guidance that the public, along with their healthcare professionals, can use to make decisions about vaccination for themselves and their loved ones, including children, older adults and people who are immunocompromised.”

The CDC also recommended that for young children, multiple doses should continue but that will vary by age, vaccine and which vaccines the child was administered previously. The CDC recommends that people 6 and older should receive an updated (bivalent) mRNA COVID-19 vaccine whether they had completed the earlier (monovalent) series or not. Also, individuals 6 and older who had received an updated mRNA vaccine don’t need to take further action unless they are 65 years or older or are immunocompromised.

Alternatives to the mRNA vaccine are available for those who can’t or don’t want to receive the mRNA vaccine.

“To date, fewer than one in five people in the United States have received an updated booster vaccination for COVID-19,” del Rio said. “It is likely that some people have put off getting boosted because they did not know when they should get an additional dose or if they were eligible. Today’s announcement is intended to eliminate any confusion over frequency and eligibility and help bridge the gap to more people getting boosted against COVID-19.”