FDA approves improved COVID-19 vaccine, expected to be available within days

Washington — US regulatory approval Latest COVID-19 Vaccines A vaccine designed to more closely target recent strains of the virus was rolled out Thursday and will hopefully also be effective against variants causing problems this winter.

Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. are set to begin shipping millions of doses of their vaccines once they receive authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. A third U.S. manufacturer, Novavax Inc., expects an improved version of its vaccine to be available a little later.

“We strongly encourage eligible people to consider getting the latest COVID-19 vaccination for added protection against currently circulating variants,” FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said in a statement.

The decision comes slightly ahead of the rollout of an improved version of the COVID-19 vaccine last year. Summer virus wave With the virus still spreading in most parts of the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already recommended that everyone age 6 months or older get vaccinated this fall, and vaccinations could begin within days.

Most Americans have some immunity from previous infection, vaccination or both, but that protection is waning. Shot from last fall The vaccine targets a different part of the coronavirus family tree, a strain that is not currently circulating. Only about 22.5% of adults and 14% of children have received the vaccine, according to CDC data.

Dr. Robert Hopkins Jr., director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, said skipping the new vaccines is a “dangerous approach” because even if a person's previous infection was mild, their next infection could be worse or cause longer-lasting COVID-19 symptoms.

This fall's vaccine prescription: A new lineage of Omicron's descendantsThe Pfizer and Moderna vaccines target a variant known as KP.2 that was prevalent earlier this year. Additional variants, primarily KP.3.1.1, are now circulating, but they are closely related enough that the vaccines promise cross-protection. A Pfizer spokesman said data the company submitted to the FDA showed that compared with last fall's vaccine, the improved vaccine “produces a significantly improved response” against multiple virus subtypes.

The big question is how soon should people get vaccinated? This summer's COVID-19 wave is not over yet, but the inevitable winter surge is likely to be worse. And while COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death, protection against mild infection lasts for only a few months.

Hopkins advised people who are at high risk of contracting the virus should not wait, but rather book their vaccination as soon as it becomes available in their area.

This includes older adults, people with weakened immune systems or other serious health problems, nursing home residents and pregnant women.

Healthy young adults and children “can get vaccinated at any time. I don't see any real reason to wait,” Hopkins said, but added that there will be enough vaccine in pharmacies and clinics in the fall that it won't be a problem to get the shot.

Exception: The CDC says people who have recently had COVID-19 can wait three months after recovery to allow immunity to that infection to begin to wane before getting vaccinated.

Hopkins, who sees patients at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said it's important that more young people get vaccinated, especially this year with school starting amid high coronavirus infection levels nationwide.

“Thankfully, COVID-19 is not killing many children, but it is killing many more children than the flu,” Hopkins said, adding that teachers should also be vaccinated as soon as possible.

Health officials say it's OK to get the COVID-19 and flu vaccines at the same time so people don't have to make two trips, but while many drugstores are already advertising flu shots, the best time to get the shot tends to be in late September and October, just before the flu typically starts to spread during the cold season.

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