Many people in the U.S. who are fully vaccinated and boosted for COVID have been waiting—eagerly in some cases—to receive another layer of protection as they pass the six-month mark after their last booster in fall 2022. But most will have to continue to wait. Late last month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention upheld its existing COVID vaccination recommendations: the agency says that just one dose of the latest updated booster, often called the bivalent booster, is necessary for now. The Food and Drug Administration has also only authorized the same one-dose booster.
This contrasts with official guidance in other countries. In early March Canada and the U.K., for example, began offering an additional booster dose to certain populations at high risk of severe COVID, including elderly people, residents of long-term care facilities and immunocompromised individuals. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends countries consider an additional booster six or 12 months after the last for older adults, those who have comorbidities or who are immunocompromised or pregnant, and frontline health care workers. The WHO also says healthy children from six months to 17 years old may not need any additional boosters.