Long Beach on Wednesday will begin offering new booster shots designed to target two subvariants of COVID-19.

The approved boosters are manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech for those over 12, and Moderna for those 18 and over.

The boosters target the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the omicron strain that are blamed for a rise in cases over the past several months. Omicron led to a drastic surge in cases in Long Beach and elsewhere last winter, a scenario health officials are hoping to avoid this fall and winter.

The Food and Drug Administration issued emergency authorization for both the Pfizer and Moderna boosters on Aug. 31.

“We’ve seen how important vaccines and boosters are in protecting against serious illness and the possibility of hospitalization, and these updated boosters will go even further,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in a statement. “We urge everyone to protect themselves and get vaccinated and boosted when eligible.”

The following bivalent COVID-19 boosters will be offered on a walk-up basis beginning Wednesday at all city-run COVID-19 vaccine clinics:

  • The Moderna bivalent booster is authorized for use in people ages 18 and older at least two months after they completed their primary series or received their most recent booster, regardless of the total number of booster doses they have already received.
  • The Pfizer bivalent booster is authorized for use in people ages 12 and older at least two months after they completed their primary series or received their most recent booster, regardless of the total number of booster doses they have already received.

If residents want to make an appointment for the booster, they can be made beginning Sept. 21 on MyTurn.

Los Angeles County will also begin offering the new booster shots on Wednesday. Details on where the vaccines will be available can be found here, or in Spanish here.

Explainer: What’s happening with omicron in Long Beach