Web Desk (National Times) – The U.S. is poised to make Covid-19 vaccinations more like a yearly flu shot, a major shift in strategy despite a long list of questions about how to best protect against a still rapidly mutating virus.<\/p>\n
The Food and Drug Administration asked its scientific advisers Thursday to help lay the groundwork for switching to once-a-year boosters for most Americans — and how and when to periodically update the shots\u2019 recipe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a consequential meeting to determine if we\u2019ve reached the point in the pandemic that allows for simplifying the use of current Covid-19 vaccines,\u201d said FDA\u2019s Dr. David Kaslow.<\/p>\n
The advisory panel mostly agreed with the FDA\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n
Covid-19 vaccines have saved millions of lives and booster doses continue to help the most vulnerable even as more contagious variants have popped up. But protection does wane and the shots don\u2019t fend off milder infections for long.<\/p>\n
And people are tired of getting vaccinated. While more than 80% of the U.S. population has had at least one Covid-19 shot, only 16% of those eligible for the latest boosters — so-called bivalent doses updated to better match more recent virus strains — have gotten one.<\/p>\n
That makes for tough decisions on how to move forward: Who really needs another shot, how often and what kind?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still protected against severe disease, thank goodness,\u201d even after the latest mutated omicron strains cropped up, noted FDA adviser Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
The first step: The FDA advisory panel voted unanimously that people should get the same vaccine formula whether they\u2019re receiving their initial vaccinations or a booster. Today, Americans get one formula based on the original coronavirus strain that emerged in 2020 for their first two or three doses \u2014 and their latest booster is a combination shot made by Pfizer or Moderna that adds omicron protection.<\/p>\n
The FDA would have to decide how to phase in that change.<\/p>\n
But \u201cthis isn\u2019t only a convenience thing\u201d to ease confusion about different kinds of shots, said Dr. Archana Chatterjee, dean of Chicago Medical School. Since the original coronavirus strain has disappeared, \u201cmoving towards the strains that are circulating is very important.\u201d
\nWho needs another shot and when sparked more debate.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, the FDA said most Americans should do fine if they get a once-a-year booster targeted to the newest variants in the fall. The agency asked if some people might need two doses — adults with weakened immune systems and very young children who\u2019ve never been previously vaccinated. That\u2019s similar to how youngsters get their first-ever flu vaccination.<\/p>\n
But more data is needed to show exactly who might need two yearly doses \u2014 such as a careful count of who still gets hospitalized with Covid-19 despite being up-to-date with today\u2019s vaccinations, Offit said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly then can we really best make the decision about who gets vaccinated with what and when,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nor is it clear that younger, healthier people would need a Covid-19 booster every year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say it\u2019s going to be annual at this point,\u201d said Harvard\u2019s Dr. Eric Rubin.<\/p>\n
Fall might not even be the best time to boost, something that would depend on when infections start rising and how long a booster\u2019s protection might last, said FDA adviser Dr. Arthur Reingold of the University of California, Berkeley.<\/p>\n
Unlike flu which in the US circulates mostly during late fall and winter, Covid-19 waves have occurred year-round.<\/p>\n
As for the recipe, the FDA\u2019s plan is to call its advisory panel for another meeting in late May or early June to decide if the vaccine recipe needs tweaking \u2014 including which virus strain to target and whether it should be a single-strain or multi-strain shot. Pfizer and Moderna said that would give enough time to produce needed doses by fall while a third manufacturer, Novavax, urged an earlier start to any recipe change.<\/p>\n
Also Thursday, US officials updated how they\u2019re tracking that the newest Covid-19 boosters are safe. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spotted a possible warning signal that seniors getting Pfizer\u2019s updated booster might have a slightly higher risk of stroke. But FDA safety expert Richard Forshee said data from Medicare and multiple other health systems \u2014 including in other countries \u2014 found no sign of trouble, leading the government to conclude it\u2019s unlikely the red flag was real.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Web Desk (National Times) – The U.S. is poised to make Covid-19 vaccinations more like a yearly flu shot, a major shift in strategy despite a long list of questions about how to best protect against a still rapidly mutating virus. The Food and Drug Administration asked its scientific advisers Thursday to help lay the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n