New COVID-19 boosters targeting the most common strains of Omicron are set to begin today after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed the updated shots Thursday.
CDC Director Rochelle Walinsky’s decision came shortly after agency advisers said that if enough people rolled up their sleeves, the shots could reduce the winter wave.
“It can help restore protection that has diminished since the previous vaccination and is designed to provide broader protection,” she said in a statement.
The modified shots offered by Pfizer and rival Moderna provide Americans with a chance to get the latest protections in yet another critical period of the pandemic. It’s the combined or “bivalent” shots – half of the original vaccine and half protection against the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron versions that now cause nearly all COVID-19 infections.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisers have struggled to figure out who should get the new booster and when, because only a similarly modified vaccine, not the exact prescription, has been studied in people so far.
But in the end, the committee deemed it the best option given that the United States is still seeing tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases and about 500 deaths each day — even before the expected new winter wave.
“I think they’re going to be an effective tool for preventing disease in the fall and winter,” said CDC advisor Dr. Matthew Daly of Kaiser Permanente Colorado.
“It’s the same scaffold, part of the same roof, we’re just putting in some windows and windows,” Dr Sarah Long of Drexel said, comparing the disk that has been studied in people and the disk the US will actually use. University.
The CDC is expected to adopt that recommendation soon, which is the last step before the shots begin. Pfizer said it expects to deliver 3 million doses to vaccination sites across the country by Tuesday.
The original COVID-19 vaccines still provide strong protection against severe illness and death, especially among younger, healthier people who have received at least one booster dose.
But these vaccines are designed to target the strain of virus that circulated in early 2020. Effectiveness declines as new mutations emerge and more time has passed since a person’s last shot. Since April, hospitalization rates for people over 65 have jumped, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The new updated shots are for use only as a booster, not for first vaccinations ever. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the Pfizer bivalent option for people 12 years of age and older while Moderna is for adults only.
Big Unknown: Exactly how much benefit people will get from one of those extra shots.
The CDC said more than 1,400 people have been included in several studies of a previous modification of a vaccine prescription targeting an earlier omicron strain called BA.1. A combo shot targeting the omicron has proven to be safe and capable of activating virus-fighting antibodies, and European regulators on Thursday recommended the use of this type of booster.
In the United States, the FDA wanted fall enhancers to target the currently circulating Omicron strains. Rather than wait until potentially November for more human studies to be completed, the agency agreed to test mice that showed the latest modification elicited a similarly good immune response.
The CDC notes that this is how flu vaccines are updated each year.
Pablo Sanchez of Ohio State University was the only CDC advisor to vote against recommending the shots. He said he thought the bivalent vaccine was safe and that he would probably get it.
But, he said, “I feel this was a bit premature” due to the lack of human data on how well it works.
Several Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisers have said that to get the most benefit, people will need to wait longer between the last vaccine and a new vaccination than the two-month minimum set by the Food and Drug Administration. They said waiting at least three months would be better.
One more change: The Food and Drug Administration no longer allows the use of original prescription boosters for anyone 12 and older — a potential source of confusion for people who planned to get a regular booster this week and may now have to wait for the new type to arrive at their local pharmacy or clinic. .
It’s not clear how many people want an updated shot. Only half of Americans who were vaccinated got the first recommended booster dose, and only a third of those age 50 or older who were urged to get a second booster dose did.
The US government has bought 170 million doses from the two companies — the shots would be free — and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 200 million people could qualify.
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