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Franciscan Health doctor talks about FDA’s OK of mix-and-match COVID-19 boosters

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it will allow for vaccine booster recipients to mix and match shots.

Pfizer followed by Moderna, or Moderna followed by Pfizer. Then there could be the option of Johnson & Johnson paired with either of the two mRNA vaccines, Moderna or Pfizer.
These are just a few COVID-19 booster combinations the FDA has greenlighted.

News 8 spoke with Dr. Christopher Doehring, vice president of medical affairs at Franciscan Health, who says not only is mixing vaccines safe, but there’s an added bonus.

“It might be better to have your primary series from one and a booster from another to sort of give you a broader protection against that spike protein and hit it from a couple different angles,” he said. “That might be the case. As long as it’s not worse and make your protection less than then simplifying it and making it easier for folks to get boosted with another shot they got initially is a big advantage.”

Doehring also says mixing vaccines makes it easier for people to get their booster. Vaccine locations may not carry the same shot a person was initially vaccinated with.

He goes on to say this is a huge step forward as millions of Americans are currently or close to being eligible for their booster shot.