The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering the authorization of a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine sometime this fall, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The agency is considering a second booster shot of the mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna.
According to the Journal, the conversation over another dose is still in its early stages. The agency is said to be deciding if a second booster shot should be given only to adults and whether it should be targeted at the omicron variant alone.
The FDA has not yet responded to a request for comment on the story.
A booster shot, or third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is recommended at least five months after the second dose of each vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 78.4 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the U.S. since the pandemic began nearly two years ago. More than 934,000 people in the U.S. have died from the virus.
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