[ad_1]
Syringe with Covid-19 vaccine against the XBB variant. Fighting the Covid-19 Coronavirus, vaccination and immunization.
undefined undefined | istock | Getty Images
U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff said Monday that updated Covid boosters should target the XBB omicron sub-variant for the upcoming fall and winter vaccination campaign.
The staff said in a statement that the United States should use a monovalent vaccine targeting either XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16 or XBB.2.3, which are the strains prevalent throughout the country. briefing document.
Related investment news
FDA staffers reached the conclusion ahead of Thursday’s meeting, when a panel of the agency’s outside advisers will recommend strains of new Covid shots to target later this year. There is no specific date for when the vaccination campaign will start.
Vaccine manufacturers are expected to update their shots once this strain has been selected.
PfizerAnd accident And novafax It is already developing versions of their respective vaccines targeting XBB.1.5 and other circulating variants.
Choosing the next strain will be crucial to those companies’ abilities to compete in the fall, when the US is expected to shift vaccine distribution to the private sector. This means that all three companies will start selling updated Covid shots directly to healthcare providers.
The FDA staff’s decision comes weeks after an advisory group to the World Health Organization recommended That Covid booster shots target XBB variants.
The scientists said that the XBB strains are some of the most elusive subtypes of immunity to date.
Those strains formed more than 95% of covid cases in the United States as of early June, according to FDA staff.
They note that the percentage of XBB.1.5 cases is declining, but that both XBB.1.16 and XBB.2.3 are “on the rise.”
Last year’s Covid boosters were bivalent, meaning they targeted the original strain of the virus and the omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5. These variants dominated cases nationwide this past fall and winter.
Absorption was slow. just about 17% of U.S. residents have taken bivalent boosters from Pfizer and Moderna since they were approved in September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[ad_2]
