LEHIGH VALLEY

LVHN offers new booster shot

Lehigh Valley Health Network’s (LVHN) COVID-19 vaccination clinics will offer newly authorized and updated COVID-19 booster vaccines starting Sept. 12 and scheduling is now open.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) granted emergency use authorization recently for updated booster shots manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Both new boosters were developed to better target against COVID-19 omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, with BA.5 being the strain found in nearly 90 percent of current COVID-19 cases.

The newest Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine is authorized for those 12 and older and the new Moderna booster for those 18 and older for use as a single booster dose at least two months following primary or booster vaccination with the original vaccine formulation. Existing Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines will continue to be used for the initial two-shot vaccination series of those vaccines, but not as boosters, federal officials said.

Scheduling can be completed through MyLVHN, the patient portal, at MyLVHN.org, with the MyLVHN app, or by calling the COVID-19 hotline at 833-584-6283 (833-LVHN-CVD). The hotline is open Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

For more information on COVID-19 vaccinations, visit LVHN.org/vaccines.