The FDA advisory panel recently reached a unanimous conclusion regarding COVID-19 vaccinations for the upcoming autumn. They recommended a transition from bivalent vaccines, which offer protection against the original, wild-type coronavirus, to a monovalent vaccine specifically targeting the XBB variant.
Apart from the 21-0 vote, there was no consensus on many of the other topics covered by the Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Biological Products, which made no definitive recommendations about who should receive doses and when they should be administered.
When the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have their advisory committee meeting, those queries are probably going to be addressed. The FDA will also choose whether to adopt the advisory committee’s suggestion.
Vaccine producers indicated they might have vaccinations available within the next several months during the conference. By the end of the next month, Pfizer suggested, it may be ready for a launch. By the end of the summer, Moderna anticipates that its modified dosages will be prepared for dispatch.
According to a press statement from Novavax, the only business in the country offering non-mRNA vaccinations, the injection will be available “during the fall vaccination campaign.”
The firms’ vaccines will be modified to specifically guard against the XBB.1.5 subvariant as well as to give defense against the other circulating sub variants.
“Novavax data showed that its XBB.1.5 COVID vaccine candidate induced functional immune responses for XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16 and XBB.2.3 variants, indicating a broad response that could potentially be applicable for forward-drift variants,” the firm stated in a statement.
The advice from the advisory council is in line with a proposal made by the World Health Organisation last month that new COVID-19 boosters target XBB subvariants.
