FDA advisors to weigh changing COVID boosters to include Omicron component
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A panel of advisors to the U.S. FDA will meet on Tuesday to discuss and potentially recommend that future COVID-19 vaccine boosters include protection against the Omicron variant.
The recommendation of the Vaccines and Related Biologics Advisory Committee will likely determine the composition of booster shots in advance of the fall when public health experts are expecting a rise in COVID cases to occur.
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), and Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) are all developing Omicron-specific vaccines. New booster shots from these companies would likely be bivalent, to include protection against the original SARS-CoV-2 strain as well as Omicron.
Earlier in June, the World Health Organization said that an updated vaccine that could provide protection specifically against the Omiron variant could be beneficial. 
In a briefing document, FDA scientists noted that a Moderna (MRNA) study found that its bivalent vaccine provided a better antibody response against the variant compared to the vaccine against the original strain. 
The scientists also said that a Pfizer (PFE)/BioNTech (BNTX) Omicron-specific vaccine led to a superior antibody response against Omicron compared to the original vaccine while also providing similar effectiveness against the original strain.
The Omicron-adapted candidate at 30 Âµg and 60 Âµg doses led to 13.5 and 19.6-fold increases, respectively, in neutralizing antibody levels against the Omicron variant as a booster dose.