FDA Authorizes Mix And Match COVID Boosters

By Susie Madrak — October 20, 2021

UPDATE: The FDA authorized Johnson & Johnson and Moderna boosters as well as the mix and match booster approach.

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Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski said the FDA is expected to authorize mix and match Moderna and J&J vaccine boosters by the end of the day.

The Pfizer vaccine is expected to be approved for children the first week of November. As soon as that happens, the White House will announce a major push to get kids vaccinated before the holiday travel rush, NBC News reports.

"We've learned exclusively that the White House is going to be rolling out a major initiative ahead of this expected emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11," Heidi Przybyla said.

"Look, the White House realizes we're at a crossroads and that we cannot get back to normal unless we have a significant number of children vaccinated. Even though we have a lot of vaccinated parents out there, not all of them, according to the survey that they've been looking at, plan to immediately start vaccinating their kids. What are they doing? They want to set up an infrastructure partnering with children's hospitals, 100 to 200 of them all across the country, to set up vaccine clinics in those hospitals. This is going to look very different than the drive to vaccinate adults, where we have FEMA executing drive-through clinics. This is something state officials have been calling for, and what health officials are calling for. Take a listen to what some of the doctors on the front lines are saying."

DR. SAAD OMER: A sustainable form of this disease is not possible without covering children. The math just doesn't add up. That's the secondary reason. But it has a benefit not just to adults if children get vaccinated, but for children themselves. So, return to normal impacts children themselves. Their own education, but also their entertainment and normal life. So, they are part of the society, and they have a stake in normalization.

DR. CLAIRE BOOGAARD: The kids have done a beautiful job protecting older people throughout the whole year, right? And it even makes me emotional when I think about how it must feel for them to finally get access to this. And it's certainly something that people need to consider when we plan for the holidays.

"So, the coordination, Mika, will be on access, messaging, all of these things and the timing couldn't be more important, because when you look at when this EOA is expected, the first week of November, it comes just weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday rush. And what we've seen in this past month, Mika, September was one of the worst months for children and covid. So the White House wanting people to take this seriously to get their kids vaccinated before the holiday rush."

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