Mount Sinai at Baruch Student Health Center
138 E 26th Street Ground Floor New York, NY 10010
Tel: 646-312-2045 Fax: 646-312-2041

Updates on COVID-19 Vaccination

The use of the bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and the bivalent Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as single booster doses was granted emergency use authorization (EUA) by the FDA on August 31, 2022. The COVID-19 bivalent vaccine is formulated to protect against the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 as well as Omicron BA.4/BA.5 variants of SARS-COV-2. It is the “updated booster”.

With this authorization, the CDC has updated its clinical recommendations as follows:

• Individuals ages 12 years and older should receive one age-appropriate bivalent booster dose at least two months after completing primary vaccination or booster vaccination with any FDA authorized and approved monovalent COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, or Novavax).
• Individuals who had recent COVID-19 infection may consider waiting 3 months before receiving the bivalent booster, however, this should be case dependent and discussed with a health care provider. Individual factors such as risk of severe disease, risk of contraction of COVID-19 at a community level, and demonstration of symptoms of COVID-19 from the predominant strain when infected should be considered when determining whether to delay booster vaccination.
• The Pfizer bivalent booster is authorized for individuals 12 years and older and the Moderna bivalent booster is authorized for individuals 18 years and older. Besides the difference in age criteria, there are no practical differences between the bivalent boosters.
• Monovalent COVID-19 vaccines are no longer authorized as booster doses for individuals ages 12 years and older. The bivalent vaccine is the only authorized booster vaccine at this time.
• Individuals cannot receive a bivalent booster without first completing at least a primary series of COVID-19 vaccination with the monovalent COVID-19 vaccines.
• This new booster recommendation replaces all prior booster recommendations for ages 12 years and older. No changes have been made to schedules for children ages 6 months to 11 years.
• The fall booster “reset” program from the CDC recommends that any individual who is eligible based off of the above criteria should receive a bivalent booster vaccine, even if an individual has received two monovalent booster doses prior.
• Coadministration of the COVID-19 bivalent booster with other vaccines, including the influenza vaccine, is safe. With both COVID-19 and influenza circulating, it is important to receive both vaccines in order to prevent severe disease and hospitalization.

Please reach out to us with any questions or guidance regarding the bivalent COVID-19 booster. We can offer vaccination to your employees both in our office or on-site at your facility. As your partners at Mount Sinai, we are here to support you. Information listed here may be found on the CDC website.

Information listed here may be found on the CDC website.