CDC changes Covid vaccine guide to OK by mixing Pfizer and Moderna photos

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has quietly changed its guidelines for Covid-19 vaccines, saying it is okay to mix Pfizer and Moderna photos in “exceptional situations” and that it is best to wait up to six weeks to get second shot of vaccine. two-dose immunization of any company.

While Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which use both RNA messenger technologies, have been authorized to be administered at a distance of 21 and 28 days, respectively, the agency now says you can get shot as long as they are given at least 28 days. distance, according to new guidelines posted on its website on Thursday.

Although “every effort” must be made to ensure that a patient receives the same vaccine, in rare cases “any available COVID-19 mRNA vaccine may be given at least 28 days between doses” – if consumption is limited or the patient no I don’t know what vaccine they originally received, says the new CDC guideline.

The CDC says the two products are not interchangeable and acknowledged that it has not yet studied whether its new recommendations would change the safety or effectiveness of any vaccine.

The agency said health care providers should provide patients with a vaccination record card that tells them when they received the first shot and what kind of shot it was to make sure patients know which shot they should receive the second. time. The agency also recommends that providers include patient vaccination information in their medical records and in the government’s immunization information system.

Both companies require two doses to get maximum protection against coronavirus. While both photos should be administered according to the originally recommended guidelines, the CDC said any company’s second dose of vaccine could be delayed by up to six weeks, if necessary.

The updated guidelines appear as some cities and counties across the country are canceling vaccination schedules because they do not have as many doses as initially expected.

Wayne County, Michigan, for example, said last week that it would prioritize ensuring that people who received the first shot receive the second shot on time. But the county said it has to cancel nearly 1,400 meetings for people to receive the first blow.

“The intent is not to suggest people do something different, but to give clinicians flexibility for exceptional circumstances,” CDC spokesman Jason McDonald said in an email to CNBC.

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, was asked Friday about the time the two shots should be administered.

“The data we have refers to a two-dose vaccine at 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 time, the CDC agrees with what the FDA said and the FDA was very clear that we should use the approved regimen.

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