In a critical next step forward in our country’s COVID-19 vaccination program, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week approved the use of updated COVID-19 boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech for people ages 12 years and older and from Moderna for people ages 18 years and older.

The updated boosters are adapted for the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants and the original coronavirus strain in a single dose, helping to restore protection that has waned since previous vaccination by targeting variants that are more transmissible and immune-evading.

In the coming weeks, CDC also expects to recommend updated COVID-19 boosters for other pediatric groups.

The American Medical Association (AMA) has announced an editorial update to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT)®, that includes eight new codes for the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster doses from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech.

The new product and administrate codes assigned to each bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster are now included in the CMA COVID-19 Vaccine Toolkit for Physician Practices and CMA COVID-19 Vaccine Reimbursement Quick Guide.

To help ensure accurate coding and reporting of COVID-19 vaccines and immunization services, AMA also offers a vaccine code finder resource to help identify the appropriate CPT code combination for the type and dose of COVID-19 vaccine provided to each patient.