Next Covid Shots in the U.S. Will Target Omicron Offshoot XBB.1.5
The new shot is the next step in what FDA officials will expect to be an annual vaccination campaign, similar to flu shots. Photo: HANNAH BEIER/REUTERS By Liz Essley Whyte June 16, 2023 4:26 pm ET The Food and Drug Administration told vaccine manufacturers their fall Covid-19 vaccines should target the widespread XBB.1.5 offshoot of Omicron. The directive, which the agency announced Friday, means the fall booster campaign will bring the third version of a Covid-19 shot, after the initial jab targeted the original strain of the virus and the most current vaccine takes aim at both the original virus and an earlier Omicron variant. The updated shots promise to offer broad protection against the coronavirus so long as the virus doesn’t mutate too much, since XBB.1.5 stems from Omicro
The new shot is the next step in what FDA officials will expect to be an annual vaccination campaign, similar to flu shots.
Photo: HANNAH BEIER/REUTERS
The Food and Drug Administration told vaccine manufacturers their fall Covid-19 vaccines should target the widespread XBB.1.5 offshoot of Omicron.
The directive, which the agency announced Friday, means the fall booster campaign will bring the third version of a Covid-19 shot, after the initial jab targeted the original strain of the virus and the most current vaccine takes aim at both the original virus and an earlier Omicron variant.
The updated shots promise to offer broad protection against the coronavirus so long as the virus doesn’t mutate too much, since XBB.1.5 stems from Omicron and is related to the various forms of Omicron circulating around the U.S.
Vaccine manufacturers said at a meeting Thursday that experimental shots targeting XBB.1.5 showed they did a good job at also stimulating the immune system to attack other XBB varieties.
XBB.1.5 came to dominate in North America this spring. It still accounts for the majority of the Covid-19 cases in the U.S., according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials.
The new shot is the next step in what FDA officials will expect to be an annual vaccination campaign, similar to flu shots.
FDA advisers voted unanimously in favor of solely targeting an XBB strain during their meeting on Thursday. Many recommended the FDA target XBB.1.5, since vaccine manufacturers had done the most work with that strain and could produce a vaccine for it most quickly.
Pfizer and partner , Moderna and Novavax are all expected to produce vaccines for the fall.
Write to Liz Essley Whyte at [email protected]
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