Categories: Health

The FDA says most individuals most likely solely want one yearly shot

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration has drawn up a roadmap of what future Covid-19 vaccination might look like.

In a briefing document released Monday, the FDA said vaccines will likely need to be updated annually as the virus continues to evolve. The agency would select the Covid strain for the spring vaccine so updated shots could be rolled out each September in time for an autumn vaccination campaign.

According to the briefing document, most people would be given a one-time chance to restore their protection from the virus. This would apply to people who have been exposed to the virus’s spike protein at least twice, either through vaccination or infection.

However, older adults and people with weakened immune systems may need two doses according to the suggested vaccination schedule. Young children who have only received one injection previously will also receive two doses.

The FDA released the roadmap ahead of a meeting of the agency’s independent vaccine experts scheduled for Thursday. The panel of experts will vote on whether all Covid vaccines in the US should be bivalent, meaning they protect against both the subvariant omicron BA.5 and the original Covid strain, which was first seen in Wuhan, China in late 2019. has been discovered.

Currently only the refresher doses from Moderna and Pfizer target the Omicron variant. If accepted, the primary series would also include the Omicron tribe.

The proposed system for updating Covid vaccines is similar to how the FDA selects flu shots each year. The agency said it can update and roll out the Covid vaccines without clinical data, which is also the case with the annual flu vaccination change process.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also expected to provide more information on Thursday about a study describing a “very unlikely” stroke risk in seniors who received Pfizer’s Omicron boosters.

The CDC received preliminary data on safety concerns from its Vaccine Safety Datalink late last year. A subsequent review of four other major databases found no increased risk of stroke, but the CDC investigation is ongoing.