Jennifer Gershman, Pharm.D., CPh

This guidance discusses that individuals 12 years and older can receive the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine 3-8 weeks after the first. Additionally, the interval for those 18 years and older for Moderna is 4-8 weeks.

The CDC released the first real world data February 15 in a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) that infants younger than 6 months were overall 61% less likely to be hospitalized from COVID-19 if their mothers were vaccinated during pregnancy through completion of a 2-dose primary mRNA COVID-19 vaccine series with either Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) or Moderna (Spikevax).

Patients who are immunocompromised are advised to get a three-dose series and then a fourth dose.

FDA is requiring postmarketing surveillance studies to further assess the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis from the vaccine, which is being sold under the brand name Spikevax.

The limit is four tests per household.

Smaller doses are recommended for people with moderate renal impairment and the treatment should not be taken by people with serious kidney disease. There are also drug interactions to be aware of because Paxlovid is an inhibitor of CYP3A.