CDC recommends updated COVID-19 vaccines
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Key takeaways:
- The CDC recommended updated COVID-19 vaccines for everyone aged older than 6 months.
- The first doses of the updated vaccines are expected to be available by the end of the week.
The CDC on Tuesday recommended the updated monovalent COVID-19 vaccines for people aged older than 6 months.
“We have more tools than ever to prevent the worst outcomes from COVID-19,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen, MD, MPH, said in a press release after signing off on a recommendation from advisors.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 13-1 on Tuesday to recommend the vaccines after the FDA fully approved them for people aged 12 years or older, and issued an emergency use authorization for people aged 6 months to 11 years.
Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech said during Tuesday’s ACIP meeting that the updated vaccines are expected to be available by the end of the week.
With the vote, the old bivalent COVID-19 vaccines are no longer authorized and should not be used. The new vaccines target only omicron XBB subvariants of SARS-CoV-2.
The new vaccines arrive during a small wave of infections in the United States, which saw an 8.7% increase in COVID-19-related hospitalizations and a 10.5% increase in the percentage of deaths linked to COVID-19 during the most recent week with reported data, according to the CDC.
FDA advisors in June recommended removing the original wild strain of SARS-CoV-2 from all COVID-19 vaccines and moving to a monovalent, single-dose vaccine targeting XBB sublineages of the omicron variant.
In August, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech shared results indicating that their updated vaccines are effective against new variants.
Some ACIP members voiced concerns about unavailable data — in particular, a lack of data on the safety and efficacy of the new vaccines in children, and a lack of data on how the vaccines work against currently circulating XBB viruses.
“This is what we have, and the virus is out there mutating,” Oliver T. Brooks, MD, FAAP, FCPP, chief medical officer at Watts Healthcare Corporation in Los Angeles, said after voting to recommend the vaccines.
The U.S. government no longer distributes COVID-19 vaccines for free, but the new shots will remain free to most Americans through their insurance plans. Uninsured people can also get them for free through health centers and pharmacies participating in the CDC’s Bridge Access Program, which runs through December 2024.
“It’s very important as consumers consider this vaccine that they talk with their health care provider to make sure they have all the information available,” Veronica V. McNally, JD, president and CEO of the Franny Strong Foundation, said after voting yes.
One question that has been raised in several meetings of CDC and FDA advisors over the past year is whether the U.S. should be treating COVID-19 vaccines like seasonal influenza vaccines — that is, whether there should be a vaccine push in the fall and winter seasons.
Discussions by these committees have followed patterns similar to the process of readying the country for new seasonal influenza vaccines, though some have noted that this may not be the correct way forward.
“We are still learning about COVID-19 and this data is going to change all the time,” Helen K. Talbot, MD, associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University, said after voting yes on Tuesday. “I think we need to constantly reevaluate. We actually don’t know when the COVID-19 season is — so fall may not be the time we vote. It could be spring. I just want to reiterate that.”
References:
- CDC. ACIP presentation slides: September 12, 2023, Meeting. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/slides-2023-09-12.html. Last reviewed Sept. 12, 2023. Accessed Sept. 12, 2023.
- CDC. CDC’s Bridge Access Program. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/bridge/index.html. Last reviewed July 13, 2023. Accessed Sept. 12, 2023.
- CDC. COVID data tracker: Data update for the United States. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home. Accessed Sept 12, 2023.
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CDC. ACIP presentation slides: September 12, 2023, Meeting. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/slides-2023-09-12.html. Last reviewed Sept. 12, 2023. Accessed Sept. 12, 2023.
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