(NewsNation Now) — If you’re planning to get a COVID-19 booster shot, you might be wondering if you should mix and match your initial vaccines and booster doses.
The National Institute of Health released a study when booster shots were first approved saying one specific combo can provide as much as 76 times more antibodies.
Here are the facts:
- Across the board, the NIH recommends mixing and matching with different vaccines.
- If you got Moderna, a boost of Pfizer gives you 11 times more antibodies, while a third dose of Moderna just gives you 10 times more.
- If you got Pfizer, Moderna produces 32 times more antibodies. Pfizer shot number three gives 20 times more.
But according to the NIH, recipients of one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine get the most benefit from mixing and matching.
After one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you get 76 times more antibodies by getting a Moderna booster and 36 times more from a Pfizer shot.
Health officials encourage those who got Pfizer or Moderna shots to get a third dose 6 months after the second shot. For those with a single dose of Johnson & Johnson, it’s 2 months later.