NYC Preps COVID Vaccine Boosters As Federal Approval Looms

NEW YORK CITY — New Yorkers who got the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines should be prepared to get fresh jabs.

Booster shots for the two vaccines could receive final federal approval as soon as this week — and New York City will be prepared to embark on another mass vaccination drive, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

"One of the things we're focusing on is making sure in the days ahead that all of our vaccinations sites are ready, and our people are ready, our supplies are ready and that New Yorkers are informed," he said Monday.

The two-dose Pfizer vaccine is the only vaccine that received federal approval for boosters so far.

Authorities approved boosters for Pfizer only for certain groups — people 65 and older, 18- to 64-year-olds with underlying health conditions and workers in high-risk settings — six months after they received their last dose.

About 168,000 New Yorkers so far have received Pfizer boosters, Dave Chokshi, the city's health commissioner, said.

Chokshi said the Moderna vaccine — which also comes in two doses — likely will receive authorization for the same groups as the Pfizer shot.

But he said the anticipated Johnson & Johnson — the only one-shot vaccine as originally administered — booster authorization effectively will turn it into a full-on second dose.

"Again, final guidance can change, but we anticipate that all New Yorkers 18 and older who received a single dose of J&J to be eligible to receive the booster dose as long as it's been at least two months after the primary dose," Chokshi said.

Anthony Fauci, the White House's chief medical adviser, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that data showed the Johnson & Johnson likely should have been a two-dose vaccine from the start.

More than 11.8 million vaccine doses have been administered so far in New York City, according to health department data. About 85 percent of adults in the city have received at least one dose of vaccine, data shows.