Covid Vaccines for Boosting Immunity Against the Circulating Variants of the Coronaviruses: An Updated Guidance
The FDA gives the go-ahead after a committee unanimously recommended that Covid vaccines be updated this fall. Based on the evidence at the time, FDA advisers initially recommended that the new vaccines target a lineage called JN.1, an Omicron offshoot. But the agency updated its guidance, asking vaccine makers to instead target the KP.2 strain, a descendant of the JN.1 variant, to more closely match circulating variants.
Both target strains have already been overtaken by even newer variants, but they’re all still part of the omicron group. It is hoped that the vaccines are close enough to boost immunity so people can get through the rest of the wave and the expected surge this winter.
The FDA approved new versions of the vaccine that are more focused on the circulating variant of the coronaviruses.
“The vaccine is not intended to be perfect. Marks says that it is not going to prevent COVID-19. We’re trying to use these vaccines to prevent people from going to an emergency room or hospital and dying from it.
The last version of the Covid vaccine was approved by the FDA. The XBB.1.5 variant is the most popular variant in the US during the first half of next year. The FLiRT variant is believed to be a more transmissible version of the virus, as it evades the immune system more effectively than previous versions.
Marks said that you might like to get protection against what is happening right now. “So I would probably get vaccinated in as timely a manner as possible. Because right now the match is reasonably close. You’re probably going to get the most benefit you’re going to get from this vaccine against what’s currently circulating. When this gets into the pharmacy, I’ll probably be on line soon after.
If you are particularly concerned about maximizing protection during the winter surge and the Christmas season, then you may want to wait until September or October.
The chief of medicine at a Providence Regional Medical Center believes that everyone should be given one of the new vaccines. Being vaccine-free will prevent transmission to other people. So that will help reduce the spread of the disease in the community, especially to the most vulnerable people. So you are also helping others and helping yourself.
It is not known how many people will want one of the new shots. Only about 22% of eligible adults got one of the last ones.
If you get your vaccine from an in-network provider, you can get all three for free. But a federal program that paid for the vaccines for uninsured adults expired.
Moore says that they are very concerned about how they will get protection, and looking for ways to solve the problem. They know that the uninsured are more likely to be out of work and stay home from school.
Hudson says that vaccine immunity has reached a nadir. This is a perfect storm for a more infectious form of Covid.
The winter is when the largest surge of respiratory viruses occurs. The emergence of new variant and waning protection of the previous vaccine are likely to have led to the current surge in Covid.
Like the influenza virus, SARS-CoV-2 is constantly changing. And similar to how flu vaccines are updated every year to adapt to the virus’s changing structure, the Covid vaccines are also being updated. Hudson said it’s hard to Predict which variant of the flu will be dominant by the time the vaccine comes out. She says it’s spinning through the different versions more quickly than the flu.