CDC Changes Covid Vaccine Guidelines To OK By Mixing Injections From Pfizer And Moderna

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly changed their guidelines on Covid-19 vaccines, saying it is now possible to mix Pfizer and Moderna injections in “exceptional situations” and that it is also fine wait up to six weeks to get the second two-dose vaccination shot from either company.

While the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which both use messenger RNA technology, were allowed to be given 21 and 28 days apart, respectively, the agency now says you can receive either. other vaccines provided they are spaced at least 28 days apart, according to new guidelines. posted on its website Thursday.

While “every effort” should be made to ensure that a patient receives the same vaccine, in rare cases “any available COVID-19 mRNA vaccine may be given at a minimum 28 day interval between doses. – if supplies are limited or the patient does not I don’t know what vaccine they originally received, according to new guidelines from the CDC.

The CDC said the two products are not interchangeable and acknowledged that it had not yet investigated whether its new recommendations would change the safety or effectiveness of either vaccine.

The agency said healthcare providers should give patients an immunization record that tells them when they received their first vaccine and what type of vaccine it was to help patients know which vaccine they should receive. the second time. The agency also recommends that providers enter the patient’s immunization information in their medical records and into the government immunization information system.

Both companies need two doses to achieve maximum protection against the coronavirus. While both vaccines should be administered according to the initially recommended guidelines, the CDC said the second dose of either company’s vaccine could be delayed for up to six weeks if necessary.

The updated guidelines come as some cities and counties across the country are canceling vaccine appointments because they don’t have as many doses as they originally expected.

Wayne County, Michigan, for example, said last week that it would make it a priority for people who got their first shot to get their second shot on time. But the county said it had to cancel nearly 1,400 appointments so people could get their first injection.

“The intention is not to suggest people do something different, but to provide clinicians with flexibility for exceptional circumstances,” said Jason McDonald, a spokesperson for the CDC, in an email to CNBC.

Dr Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, was asked on Friday about the interval at which the two injections should be given.

“The data we have is for a vaccine with two doses on the recommended schedule, 21 or 28 days,” she said at a virtual event hosted by Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and National Public Radio . “At this point at the CDC, we agree with what the FDA has said and the FDA has been very clear that we should be using the approved diet.

“It is firmly anchored in the science and the available evidence, and to do something different would be to not follow the science and potentially not allow us to really realize the full potential of these vaccines,” she added. “So for now, from the CDC’s point of view, we think there should be two doses on the recommended schedule.”