Booster shots of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine are now available at military medical treatment facility and Department of Defense vaccination sites.
Those eligible for a Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot may also get them at commercial sites, such as civilian pharmacies or doctors' offices
All COVID-19 vaccines, including Pfizer-BioNTech's booster dose, may be given at the same time as the influenza vaccine (or other vaccines which may be due).
Fully vaccinated is still defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as completing the 2-dose series for Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines and the 1 dose for Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine.
Booster Shots
Booster shots are now formally recommended for certain groups of people under an Emergency Use Authorization, according to recent announcements from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC.
For now, eligibility for a booster shot is limited to those who previously received a two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for their initial vaccination.
At this time, booster shots are not recommended for those who initially received the Moderna two-dose vaccine and the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen single-dose vaccine or a mixed series of vaccines. However, those two populations will likely be recommended to receive a booster shot, and a formal recommendation for that may be forthcoming later this year as additional data are reviewed, according to the CDC.
Eligibility to voluntarily receive a single Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine includes people who are:
- 65 years and older and residents in long-term care facilities
- 18 and older in long-term care settings
- 50-64 with underlying medical conditions
- 18-49 with underlying medical conditions based on their individual benefits and risks
- 18-64 who are at increased risk of COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional settings such as teachers, frontline health care workers and essential workers, and those incarcerated, based on their individual benefits and risks.
To become eligible for a booster shot, there is a there is a six-month waiting period after the completion of the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech 2-dose vaccine.
Booster doses are not currently part of the DOD or federal worker mandates for COVID-19 vaccine requirements.
Proof of an underlying condition or an occupational risk is not required to receive a booster dose at an MTF or DOD vaccination site, and self-reporting of a condition eligible for a booster shot is allowed at any site where vaccines are available.
Comirnaty
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is also known as the "Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine." The initial Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was authorized for use under an FDA Emergency Use Authorization earlier this year, and the same vaccine assumed the new name, Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty, when it was fully approved by the FDA on Sept. 23. The two vaccines may be used interchangeably.