FDA authorizes Omicron-specific boosters

COVID booster shot.
(Image credit: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized updated, Omicron-specific COVID-19 boosters from both Pfizer and Moderna, multiple outlets report.

The new shots are expected post-Labor Day, pending review from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention later this week, notes The Washington Post. The boosters' bivalent formula targets both the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariant, as well as the original strain of the virus that circulated back in 2020.

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.