Updated COVID-19 vaccines could be available at Oregon pharmacies, doctors’ offices and clinics as soon as next week, state officials said Tuesday.
The Moderna and Pfizer boosters, updated to target the XBB.1.5 subvariant, were recommended for use Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The federal Food and Drug Administration approved the doses on an emergency basis Monday.
The doses should be on their way to providers “within a few days” of the federal recommendation, and it’ll likely take a few days more for the doses to get to their destinations and onto shelves, Oregon Health Authority spokesperson Jonathan Modie said.
The boosters target a COVID-19 strain that is no longer dominant but that manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna say are effective against the newer, now-dominant strains.
— Fedor Zarkhin
Office: 503-294-7674; Cell: 971-373-2905; fzarkhin@oregonian.com