The Food and Drug Administration has signed off on the updated Covid boosters from Pfizer and Moderna and Martin’s Wellness Pharmacist and Director of Clinical Services Angela Solis provides clarification on the latest new boosters greenlit by the FDA.

KXAN: “When do we expect those boosters to be on store shelves and do we know a cost range yet for the boosters?”

Solis: “It's likely to be at least next week before they actually end up on store shelves the FDA signed off on them today but there's two more steps in the approval process before they're released by the manufacturer. First, a CDC subcommittee has to approve and make recommendations on who's the most important people to get the vaccine and then the CDC Director has to sign off. Only then are the manufacturers allowed to ship the vaccine to pharmacies.”

KXAN: “Anyone age five and older can get an updated booster shot. When exactly though should
people get that booster, especially if they have been vaccinated?”

Solis: “So if they've been vaccinated before, early guidance looks like the recommendation of coming out of the CDC might be to wait at least two months since the last shot the patient got.
The FDA decides who can get the vaccine but the CDC decides who should get the vaccine, so it'll be very interesting to see what comes out of CDC in the next couple of days. They might recommend older people, for example, or infants as having higher priority than other people. Or they might give a blanket okay and say everyone should get the new vaccine.”

KXAN: “ FDA did ask the drug makers to formulate the fall boosters to really Target a specific sub-variant. Do we know how effective this will be, especially since we've seen a surge in recent months with Covid-19?”

Solis: “Well, the XBB 1.5 variant is what this targets. This is an entirely new vaccine, it's different than any Covid vaccine any of you have ever gotten before. It targets specifically that variant and
it's quite effective against that variant. However, the newest variant that is the most widespread in the United States now is the EG.5 variant and early indications are that it's also quite effective against that variant and another additional variant that's still not very prevalent. So we have high hopes that it will be highly effective against the current circulating strains.”

KXAN: “Thank you so much. I know at Martin's Wellness and Compounding Pharmacies, you all anticipate having those booster shots as soon as they're completely approved.

Solis: “We do. We've got them pre-ordered, so as soon as the CDC gives the go-ahead to ship we'll be getting our shipment. We hope to have them by next week, potentially.”