A new study released Wednesday found that the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine boosters shots produced stronger immunity than the Johnson & Johnson booster shot.

The study suggested that those who got the J&J one-shot vaccine would be better off getting a Moderna or Pfizer booster shot than getting a J&J booster shot.

  • Pfizer and Moderna recipients didn’t show too big of a difference in providing immunity.
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The study — which comes from the National Institutes of Health — had 458 volunteers, who were separated into nine groups of about 50.

  • Anyone who got the two-dose Moderna vaccine received either a Moderna, Pfizer or J&J booster.
  • Those who got the two-dose Pfizer vaccine got either the Pfizer, Moderna or J&J booster.
  • Anyone who got the one-shot J&J vaccine got another J&J shot, or a Moderna or Pfizer booster.

The study found that those who got the Moderna vaccine and a Moderna booster shot had the best immune response. The next strongest included:

  • Pfizer shot with a Moderna booster.
  • Moderna’s two-dose vaccine with Pfizer’s booster.

However, as NPR explains, the “increase in immune response with the mRNA vaccines was probably too small to really make a difference in protection in most groups.”

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Also, those who got the J&J vaccine had the best immune response when they received a Pfizer or Moderna booster — not a J&J booster.

This new data comes as the Food and Drug Administration is monitoring new COVID-19 booster shots from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. The Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot has already been approved and has been in circulation for weeks.

Scientists with the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that the Moderna vaccine booster did not meet all the criteria needed for the FDA to support the shot, simply because the original two-dose regimen might be too strong to warrant a third shot.

Similarly, Johnson & Johnson’s booster shot got mixed reviews from the FDA on Wednesday, according to The New York Times. There’s speculation the FDA will approve the booster shot anyway “since the effectiveness of the one-shot vaccine is lower than that of the two-dose mRNA vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech,” per The New York Times.

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