WHO recommends updating COVID shots to add Omicron XBB.1 variants
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Following a meeting of an advisory panel, the World Health Organization announced its recommendations on Thursday supporting the use of COVID vaccines updated for the currently dominant Omicron variants such as XBB.1
Noting that XBB.1 descendent lineages have outnumbered other COVID variants globally as of May, the WHOâs Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition recommends reformulating the currently used COVID shots.
Leading COVID-19 vaccine makers: Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), AstraZeneca (AZN), Sinovac Biotech (SVA), Sinopharm Group (OTCPK:SHTDF) (OTCPK:SHTDY), CanSino Biologics (OTCPK:CASBF), Valneva SE (VALN)
According to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the XBB group of COVID viruses, such as XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16, dominate the U.S. making up an estimated 64% and ~14% of cases, respectively.
Citing the similarities between the two strains, the WHO panel recommends that developers use either XBB.1.5 or XBB.1.16 to reformulate their vaccines to improve protection, particularly against symptomatic disease. 
The WHO group reiterates that the currently approved vaccines continue to protect against severe disease and death. However, citing a lack of antibody response generated by the former shots against the latest variants, they recommend a pivot to XBB.1-adjusted vaccines.
The WHO recommendations precede an FDA advisory committee meeting in June scheduled to discuss the strain composition of COVID vaccines to be used in a fall immunization drive.
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