MMWR: Bivalent COVID-19 Booster Offers Protection

About 150 million Americans are eligible for an updated (bivalent) booster and have not yet received one. Two new MMWR reports provide early data to show that the updated (bivalent) booster cuts the risk of having to visit an emergency department (ED) or urgent care (UC) or being hospitalized with COVID-19 by half or more for most people. The first report found that bivalent booster doses provided additional protection against COVID-19–associated emergency department/urgent care encounters and hospitalizations in persons who previously received 2, 3, or 4 monovalent vaccine doses. The second report found among adults who are immunocompetent, aged ≥65 years hospitalized in the multistate IVY Network, a bivalent booster dose provided 73% additional protection against COVID-19 hospitalization compared with past monovalent mRNA vaccination only.