The FDA Approved Two Revised COVID Vaccinations
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration approved two revised COVID-19 vaccinations to help individuals defend themselves from the virus’s latest strains.
The new COVID vaccines are intended to keep vaccinations up to date with the virus, which is constantly changing, to avoid damaging our immune systems.
“Vaccination continues to be the cornerstone of COVID-19 prevention,” stated Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in an announcement. “These revised vaccines fulfill the agency’s strict scientific requirements for safety, efficacy, and manufacturing quality. Given the population’s diminishing immunity from previous viral infection and vaccination, we highly recommend that those who are eligible receive an updated COVID-19 vaccine to provide improved protection against presently circulating strains.”
The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines, approved on Thursday, target the KP.2 variation. The Novavax vaccine, which is based on an older technology, targets an earlier strain known as JN.1 and is also likely to receive FDA approval soon.
Even If The Vaccine Is Not Flawless, It Can Still Provide Protection
Both target strains have already been surpassed by newer varieties, but they are all still members of the omicron group. The vaccines are hoped to be close enough to enhance immunity and protect people through the remainder of the surprisingly large summer wave and the projected surge this winter.
“The vaccination isn’t meant to be perfect. “It will not completely prevent COVID-19,” Marks told NPR in an interview. “But if we can prevent people from getting serious cases that end up in emergency rooms, hospitals or worse — dead — that’s what we’re trying to do with these vaccines.”
Marks estimates that the new vaccines will reduce the risk of contracting COVID by 60% to 70% and the probability of becoming extremely ill by 80% to 90%. The shots are planned to be accessible to those aged 6 months and up as early as this weekend.
Vaccine timing may be a personal decision
“Right now we’re in a wave, so you’d like to get protection against what’s going on right now,” Marks tells me. “So, I would probably be vaccinated as soon as feasible. Because the match is currently pretty close. This vaccine will most likely provide you with the greatest benefit compared to what is currently circulating. So, as soon as this becomes available in pharmacies, I will most likely go online.”
Marks recommends that people wait at least two or three months after their last COVID or shot to acquire one of the new vaccines.
Some folks may want to wait until September or October if they are particularly worried about maximum protection during the winter surge and the holidays.
“Getting vaccinated sometime in the September to early October time frame seems like a pretty reasonable thing to do to help bring you protection through the December/January time frame,” according to Marks. “It doesn’t, like, abruptly stop. This isn’t something that ends abruptly after three or four months. It’s only that the immunity will diminish over time.”
Vaccination can help reduce the spread of COVID
“In my opinion, everyone should get one of the new vaccines,” says Dr. George Diaz, chief of medicine at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett in Everett, Wash., and an IDSA representative. “Getting vaccinated yourself will prevent transmission to others. This will help reduce the spread of the disease in the community, particularly among the most vulnerable people. So you’re not just benefiting yourself but also helping others.”
Furthermore, getting immunized lowers the likelihood of developing long-term COVID, according to Diaz.
Others dispute whether everyone needs another injection, claiming that most younger, healthy people have enough immunity from previous immunizations and infections to keep them from becoming seriously ill.
“Anyone who wants to get this vaccine should get it,” says Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert from the University of Pennsylvania who advises the FDA. “It certainly makes sense why someone would want to get it because it lessens your chance of getting a mild or moderate infection for about four to six months and, to some extent, lessens your chances of spreading the virus.” However, the calculation may alter for young people. “Were I a 35-year-old healthy adult who’d already had several doses of vaccine and one or two natural infections, I wouldn’t feel compelled to get it,” Offit explains.
Regardless of public health recommendations, it is unclear how many people will seek one of the new shots. Only approximately 22% of eligible adults received one of the remaining ones.
However, anyone who wants to obtain the COVID vaccine can also get the flu shot. In addition, government officials recommend that anyone 75 and older receive one of the new vaccines to guard against the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. The same goes for pregnant women and adults aged 65 to 74, who are at greater risk of becoming critically ill with RSV.
Older, at-risk adults will most likely be able to receive a second dose of the new COVID vaccines in the spring or early summer to help protect them from another wave next summer.
If an insured person receives their vaccination from an in-network practitioner, they will receive all three immunizations at no cost. However, a federal program that paid for vaccinations for uninsured people has expired.
“In the public health community, we’re very concerned about how they’ll get protection, and we’re looking for solutions,” says Dr. Kelly Moore, who leads Immunize.org, an advocacy group. “We know that the people who are uninsured are the least likely to be able to afford to become ill—missing work, staying home from school.
