BPHC Bulletin: CDC Updates Guidance on COVID-19 Boosters for Pediatric Patients

HRSA sent this bulletin at 10/13/2022 11:43 AM EDT

A timely update from the Bureau of Primary Health Care

On Wednesday, October 12, CDC recommended the following bivalent booster shots for COVID-19 vaccination:

Pfizer-BioNTech booster for patients ages 5-11.
Moderna booster for patients ages 6-17.

This recommendation follows FDA's authorization of these products on Wednesday, October 12.

The single-shot bivalent boosters may be administered at least two months following primary or booster vaccination. Look to the CDC resources below for guidance on boosters for people with recent infection.

These new boosters are called “bivalent” because they protect against two different COVID-19 strains: the original and the highly contagious omicron variant.

FDA’s authorization simultaneously rescinded the authorization for the Pfizer booster, specifically in this statement: “With today’s authorization, the monovalent Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine is no longer authorized as a booster dose for individuals 5 through 11 years of age.”
The monovalent (original) vaccines will continue to be used for primary vaccination in patients that have never been vaccinated against COVID-19. Continue to store and use viable monovalent vaccine to administer primary series vaccinations.

RESOURCES

These resources can help your health center plan for booster administration. Check them for updates over the coming days.

The CDC Fall Vaccination Operational Planning Guide – Information for the Fall Vaccine Campaign, Including Upcoming Bivalent COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Doses (PDF), which is posted on the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Operational Guidance webpage
CDC’s Use of COVID-19 Vaccines in the United States webpage
HHS’ We Can Do This site has a section dedicated to Vaccination Weeks of Action
The National Association of Community Health Centers’ (NACHC’s) COVID-19 Communications Toolkit includes podcasts, social media resources, and key messages to help you educate your communities. NACHC produced the toolkit with CDC funding

OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN MORE

COVID-19 Response Program Office Hours

We’ll discuss the new pediatric boosters at next Tuesday’s session (October 18).

Going forward, we’ll use Zoom for Office Hours. Stay tuned to the October 18 Primary Health Care Digest and other communications from BPHC for more information.

We reduced the frequency of these to once a month for November and December: We’ll only hold office hours on Tuesday, November 15, and Tuesday, December 13. Sessions are 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET. Though some information may be geared toward COVID-19 Response Program participants, these sessions are open to all HRSA-supported health centers.

CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccine Webinar Series

CDC offers a series of brief (15-20-minute) webinars addressing topics around COVID-19 vaccination. These interactive, web-based training modules offer a real-world perspective on different issues around COVID-19 vaccines. Each webinar includes self-test practice questions and lists additional resources related to the topic discussed.

The October 19 webinar will focus on the bivalent booster recommendations for children ages 5-11 in lieu of a Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA) call. CDC will pre-record and post it on Wednesday, October 19, on their COVID-19 Vaccine Webinar Series webpage.