September 8th, 20220After the federal government's approval, the state now has "bivalent" booster shots available that target the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Michigan's health officials said Wednesday.
The updated, or bivalent, boosters target the most recent COVID-19 Omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, which are more contagious and more resistant than...
May 17th, 20220WASHINGTON D.C. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced expanded approval for Pfizer’s COVID-19 booster shot.
Now, children ages 5-11 are now eligible for the COVID-19 booster shot made by Pfizer-BioNTech and which is recommended at least five months after the initial two-dose series of the vaccine.
The...
February 2nd, 20220WASHINGTON D.C. — Pfizer-BioNTech has asked the FDA for emergency authorization for a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine for children 6-months- to 5-years-old.
The company is still awaiting data on a three-dose course.
Early data from Pfizer has shown that the vaccine is safe and produces an immune response. For the youngest age group,...
December 22nd, 20210WASHINGTON D.C. — Health regulators have officially authorized the first pill against COVID-19 that Americans can take at home.
The milestone comes as cases, hospitalizations and deaths are rising at rapid speeds, with the omicron variant also spreading rapidly.
The drug Paxlovid, created by Pfizer, will have limited supplies...
December 16th, 20210DETROIT — The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is expanding COVID-19 vaccinations at its neighborhood testing sites to also offer the vaccine to children ages 5- 11-years-old. To date, vaccines have only been offered at these sites to adults and children ages 12 and older.
On Nov. 2, Pfizer's COVID-19...
December 14th, 20210LANSING — The state’s health department is looking back at a year of COVID-19 vaccinations in Michigan, as Tuesday, Dec. 14 marks a year since the state began administrating shots.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) said the date marks history as the state began administering the first authorized...
December 14th, 20210On Tuesday, Pfizer Inc. said final analysis of its antiviral COVID-19 pill still showed near 90 percent efficacy in preventing hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk patients, and recent lab data suggests the drug retains its effectiveness against the fast spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Last month the U.S. drugmaker...
December 10th, 20210LANSING - Following CDC approval, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is urging all eligible Michiganders 16 and up to get the Pfizer booster vaccine if they have received their two primary COVID-19 vaccines.
Currently, Pfizer is the only authorized vaccine for under age 18.
Eligible Michiganders should...
December 1st, 20210- Briana Gasorski contributed to this report
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday that the first case of the newly emerging Omicron variant of COVID-19 was detected in the U.S. A second case was announced in Minnesota on Thursday, after which two more states, New York and Colorado, reported...
November 23rd, 20210LANSING — The state reported this week that as of last Friday, more than 87,000 (10.5 percent) of Michigan children ages 5 to 11 have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is urging parents and caregivers to get their children vaccinated before the...
November 19th, 20210DETROIT - Amid a surge in cases, Michigan officials are now urging people to get their COVID-19 vaccine boosters, that are now approved for anyone over 18 years of age by the FDA.
Daily cases in the state have consistently risen since a drastic reduction last summer, showing an upward cumulative trend. Cases peaked with over 6,500...
November 16th, 20210MICHIGAN — The state hit an important milestone in vaccinations against COVID-19 for adults this week.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) announced on Wednesday that Michigan has reached the state’s 70 percent goal of eligible residents age 16 and older receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19...
November 3rd, 20210The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), doctors and state public health leaders are urging Michigan parents to get their children ages 5 to 11 vaccinated with Pfizer's COVID-19 pediatric vaccine, which received emergency use authorization for this age group from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and was...
October 20th, 20210WASHINGTON D.C. — The White House has rolled out detailed plans for the expected authorization of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children.
Federal regulators will meet over the next two weeks to weigh the benefits of giving shots to children aged 5 to 11.
Within hours of the formal approval, which is expected after the Centers...
October 7th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has confirmed Oct. 26 for its panel of outside advisers to meet and discuss the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in children as young as 5.
If approved by that advisory panel, children ages of 5- 11-years-old, numbering around 28 million, will begin receiving the two-dose...
October 6th, 20210Michigan marked more than 10 million "primary series" doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday.
The state has also administered more than 207,000 third doses to those who are immunocompromised and booster doses to eligible individuals. To date, 68.3 percent of Michiganders age 16-years-old or older have gotten at least their...
September 30th, 20210LANSING — Following FDA approval, recommendations from the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and additional recommendations by the CDC director, the Michigan Department of Health and Humans Services (MDHHS) is urging certain Michiganders to get a booster shot if they received Pfizer’s COVID-19...
September 27th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Biden will receive a COVID-19 booster shot on Monday, the White House said days after his administration green-lighted a third shot of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine in certain populations.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week backed an additional dose of the Pfizer...
September 15th, 20210WASHINGTON D.C. — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released new data regarding booster shots for the Pfizer vaccine.
In the data, Pfizer said that vaccine booster shots would restore protection against COVID-19 up to 95 percent in real-world settings.
Pfizer also noted that it would be safe and necessary to take a...
September 1st, 20210Adding to expert confidence over the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC announced this week that its advisory committee on immunization has given the vaccine a "unanimous recommendation" for those ages 16 and up.
The committee’s 14-0 vote came a week after the FDA gave the Pfizer vaccine full approval.
The CDC's Advisory Committee...
August 24th, 20210WAYNE COUNTY — The Wayne County Health Department has begun administering Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to immunocompromised residents.
Boosters are available at no cost to eligible residents at all Wayne County-sponsored vaccine sites.
Boosters for immunocompromised residents are another safe and effective...
August 23rd, 20210On Monday, the U.S. drug regulator granted full approval to the Pfizer/BioNTech SE COVID-19 vaccine that had earned emergency-use authorization in December, making it the first to secure such U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) validation as health authorities struggle to win over vaccine skeptics.
The FDA approved the two-dose...
August 21st, 20210DEARBORN — The federal government is preparing to deliver "booster" shots of COVID-19 vaccines to Americans by mid-September, recommending that immunocompromised people take a booster even sooner.
Health officials have acknowledged that protection from vaccines wanes, or diminishes over time, though they still remain highly...
August 18th, 20210Top U.S. health officials said on Wednesday that the protection offered by current available vaccines against COVID-19 wanes over time, as federal agencies have begun preparing to offer booster shots to all eligible Americans beginning the week of Sept. 20.
The booster shots will have to be administered starting eight months after a...
August 11th, 20210WASHINGTON D.C. — While nearly half of all Americans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the FDA is reportedly on the verge of administering booster doses.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the FDA is expecting to roll out its booster strategy by early September.
The Biden administration has been pushing for the...
July 28th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — As new data from Pfizer shows a "booster" shot of its COVID-19 vaccine provides strong protection against the highly-contagious Delta variant, federal officials reiterated that Americans don’t need one quite yet.
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN on Wednesday that people "do not need to go out and...
July 8th, 20210The drugmaker Pfizer said on Thursday it will ask the U.S. government for the approval of a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine within the next month, as fears among experts grow around the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.
The request with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is based on evidence of greater risk...
July 6th, 20210With the more-infectious Delta variant emerging as the most common strain of the coronavirus, parts of the U.S. with the lowest vaccination rates are threatening to halt progress on the pandemic in the country.
Southern states like Arkansas, Missouri and Alabama have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, according to...
