Ahead of New COVID Vaccines for Fall, 2022 Bivalent Shot No Longer Available at LVPG

Following a meeting by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Sept. 11, the agency revoked emergency use authorization (EUA) for the 2022 bivalent COVID-19 booster shots as it simultaneously gave EUA to two new monovalent COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Revoking EUA for the bivalent COVID-19 vaccines means no shots can be given using the bivalent vaccines, even for people who may have scheduled an appointment with their LVPG doctor to receive one.

“With the FDA’s actions yesterday, all pharmacies and other COVID-19 vaccine locations, including LVPG doctors’ offices, can no longer give shots using the now-unauthorized bivalent COVID-19 vaccines,” says Timothy Friel, MD, Chair, Department of Medicine, Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN). “We will begin offering the newer monovalent COVID vaccines as soon as they become available, hopefully within the next 1-2 weeks.”

The new monovalent COVID-19 vaccines that received EUA yesterday are more effective against circulating variants of COVID-19, including XBB.1.5. Those shots now await recommendation and endorsement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Once the CDC signs off on the vaccines and provides guidance on shots for various patient populations, LVHN will announce how it will offer the new, more effective shots.