CDC approves second booster amid Connecticut’s stable COVID metrics

The Food and Drug Administration Tuesday authorized an additional booster shot of both Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID vaccine for adults 50 and over.

The FDA is authorizing fourth COVID shots for adults over 50 years old if they are more than four months past their third vaccine dose. The authorization extends to immunocompromised patients 12 years old and older, including those who have undergone solid organ transplantation.

“Current evidence suggests

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is prepared for administration at Union Station in Los Angeles on Jan. 7. The FDA is poised to clear a fourth dose of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine for adults age 50 and older, a person familiar with the matter said. some waning of protection over time against serious outcomes from COVID-19 in older and immunocompromised individuals,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a release.

Rick Martinello, director of infection prevention at Yale New Haven Health, said he will plan to get a second booster shot but specifically because he is planning a vacation.

“Some of it is because I have a trip to Europe planned later this month,” he said.

Maritnello got his third shot in December, which was about four months ago. He said the COVID rates in

Connecticut are relatively low and relatively stable so, if a trip to Europe was “off the table,” Martinello said his decision would be a different one.

“I probably would wait at this point and, the reason being, I would probably wait to see and get vaccinated more toward early fall,” he said. “Everything seems pretty stable right now.”

The state reported Tuesday that 365 additional COVID cases had been identified out of 10,010 reported tests for a positivity rate of 3.65 percent since Monday.

The number of patients in Connecticut hospitals fighting a COVID-19 infection increased by seven on Tuesday for a total of 101.

Ulysses Wu, chief epidemiologist at Hartford HealthCare, said Monday that the FDA’s decision was the result of fears over BA.2, the omicron subvariant being blamed for COVID spikes in Europe and Asia.

“I think they’re worried about BA.2,” Wu said. “That’s basically what they’re basing their decision on.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BA.2 is now the dominant coronavirus strain in the United States, making up 54.9 percent of all tested samples as of March 26.

BA.2 is far more prevalent in New England, where the CDC said the subvariant comprises 72.6 percent of samples.

Martinello said research has shown that BA.2 is “as much as 40 percent” more transmissible than its progenitor, omicron.

Tribune News Service