Next set of COVID boosters to target new Omicron variants – WSJ
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Health officials and vaccine developers aim to target some of the highly prevalent COVID variants with the next generation of updated boosters in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.
Omicron subvariants, XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16, the two most dominant variants of COVID in the U.S., are under consideration for the next boosters that Americans would take annually, like a flu shot.
Another strain called XBB.2.3 is also said to be under consideration though that variant is less common than the other two and similar to XBB.1.16, one of the people said.
The plans to revise the booster shots come as the FDA prepares to hold an advisory committee meeting next month to discuss the strain selection for the next generation of COVID shots.
Then, according to the FDA recommendations, vaccine makers are expected to develop the shots in time for a fall immunization drive.
An updated shot targeting only one COVID variant would be different from the currently used bivalent vaccines, designed to target the original virus and the Omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5.
Makers of COVID-19 shots authorized in the U.S.: Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/ BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX)
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