The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Aug.
22 approved new COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. The shots, based on messenger ribonucleic acid technology (mRNA), target the KP.2 strain.
“Given waning immunity of the population from previous exposure to the virus and from prior vaccination, we strongly encourage those who are eligible to consider receiving an updated COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants.” The FDA in the fall of 2023 cleared the previous round of COVID-19 vaccines, but according to federal data, the protection from those shots plummeted over time. That data and other information prompted the FDA to follow the recommendation of its advisers and over the summer direct manufacturers to update their vaccines.
Moderna and Pfizer opted to target KP.2, while a forthcoming vaccine from Novavax is expected to target JN.1.
None of the manufacturers have offered clinical data for the vaccines. They’ve said that testing in animals shows the shots trigger neutralizing antibodies. “The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to hundreds of millions of people in the U.
S., and the benefits of these vaccines continue to outweigh their risks,” the FDA said. Side effects of the vaccines include heart inflammation and headache.
Officials have said they plan to clear new shots every fall, similar to the cadence for influenza vaccines. Under Thursday’s move, children aged 6 months to 4 years of.