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Coronavirus: US authorises Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine boosters retooled for Omicron variants
- Until now, Covid-19 vaccines targeted the original coronavirus strain, even as wildly different mutants emerged
- The FDA’s Dr Peter Marks said a vaccine matched to currently spreading variants might do a better job fighting infection, not just serious illness
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The US on Wednesday authorised its first update to Covid-19 vaccines – booster doses that target today’s most common Omicron strain. Shots could begin within days.
The move by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tweaks the recipe of shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna that already have saved millions of lives. The hope is that the modified boosters will blunt yet another winter surge.
“You’ll see me at the front of the line,” FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said soon before his agency cleared the new doses.
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Until now, Covid-19 vaccines have targeted the original coronavirus strain, even as wildly different mutants emerged. The new US boosters are combination, or “bivalent” shots. They contain half that original vaccine recipe and half protection against the newest Omicron versions, called BA.4 and BA.5, that are considered the most contagious yet.
The combination aims to increase cross-protection against multiple variants.
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“It really provides the broadest opportunity for protection,” Pfizer vaccine chief Annaliesa Anderson said.
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