Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor for the White House, said on Friday that even though Americans have the option to mix and match their COVID-19 vaccine booster shot, it is advised that they stick to the original one, if available.

In an interview with CNN, Fauci, who is also the chief of America’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a statement, “It is generally recommended that you get the booster that is the original regimen that you got in the first place.”

He later added, “But for one reason or other – and there may be different circumstances with people, availability or just different personal choices – you can, as we say, mix and match”, according to reports from Reuters.

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Earlier this week, as United States authorities scrambled to explore the possibility of approving different booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines, Fauci said Americans should “feel good” about this.

While speaking to ABC ‘This Week’ co-anchor Martha Raddatz he said, “I think that they should feel good about it because what the advisers to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) felt is that given the data that they saw, very likely this should have been a two-dose vaccine to begin with”, media reports suggest.

However, Fauci’s statements of Friday did not seem to align with the announcements of health care authorities — Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention– who permitted the mix and match of COVID-19 vaccines. The authorities did not provide any recommendations or specify an ideal combination.

Additionally, the option to mix and match vaccines will now give an opportunity to millions of Americans who wanted to get vaccines with a greater efficacy rate than single-shot Johnson & Johnson, according to reports from Reuters.

The FDA and CDC gave all necessary approvals to Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccines this week to make them available for booster shot administration.