The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel has determined that the vaccine strengthens its effectiveness for adults ages 50-64 and up.
The test results of the new vaccines are preliminary, and the vaccine was not tested for its safety.
That means the vaccines may not protect people from particular conditions, such as pneumonia or shingles.
Still, the recommendations — which are based on such things as scientific evidence and media coverage — could help all adults understand whether they should be vaccinated.
Unlike with newborns and adolescents, who are older than 40 when they are first vaccinated, adults are not required to get a vaccination before they attend school.
RuthAnne Steegmuller, a professor of pediatrics and public health at the University of Pittsburgh, chaired the CDC panel that conducted the new safety and effectiveness testing on the vaccine. She says there will be no change in the recommendations, which the committee reviewed in conjunction with the National Vaccine Advisory Committee.
The assessment included a clinical trial of 26,016 adults, about 3,000 of them in the 50-64 age group, who were given either the new booster vaccine, called COVID-19, or the nasal spray called NEVVAC in the trial.
The questionnaire of 1,065 of the trial participants was completed for each person who got the vaccine, while a question of another 1,019 people who got either the vaccine or the nasal spray was completed for people who did not get both.
“Because the safety and effectiveness testing is in the preliminary stage, the panel cautioned against individual recommendations for COVID-19 or NEVVAC based on the results of the safety and effectiveness testing,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
The committee did, however, release a clinical study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in May, that showed the two vaccine cocktails provided better protection than the traditional vaccine.