The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expects updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax to be available to the public in mid-September, providing a more specific timeline for the arrival of the shots, pending approvals from the FDA and CDC.
The United States is still weeks away from distributing Covid booster shots, despite a 21.6% increase in hospitalizations related to the virus, and the effectiveness of the boosters against new virus variants remains uncertain.
An updated version of the COVID-19 vaccine designed to target the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, known as Kraken, is expected to be released earlier than anticipated, potentially by mid-September, as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations rise across California and the US.
The U.S. is experiencing a rise in Covid cases just as new vaccines that protect against the latest variants are almost ready.
Moderna's updated Covid vaccine has shown a strong immune response against the highly mutated omicron variant BA.2.86, suggesting that the vaccine will still be effective against newer variants of the virus.
Antibodies from prior infection or existing vaccines are effective against the BA.2.86 variant, and the increase in COVID cases in the US is not driven by this variant, according to the CDC.
Two new Covid shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have been approved by the FDA and are expected to be available soon as cases continue to rise in some parts of the US, with preliminary research suggesting they offer protection against the dominant variant and other concerning variants.
The FDA has approved updated COVID-19 vaccine and booster shots, targeting new variants, and making them available for Americans as young as 6 months old from Moderna and Pfizer.
The US FDA has approved new COVID booster shots from Pfizer and Moderna to address the omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, which could be available in the coming days pending CDC clearance.
Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, a South African pharmaceutical firm, has made significant progress in developing an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19, potentially expanding access to vaccines globally and enabling lower-income countries to produce their own mRNA vaccines.
Moderna's experimental mRNA-based seasonal flu vaccine, mRNA-1010, demonstrated a stronger immune response against four strains of the flu virus compared to a currently marketed vaccine, paving the way for potential approval from regulators.
Americans can now receive an updated COVID-19 vaccine to reduce the severity of symptoms, protect against current variants, and curb the risk of "long COVID."
Moderna's flu vaccine has demonstrated a stronger immune response against all strains of the influenza virus compared to traditional flu shots, potentially allowing the company to file for accelerated approval in the US by year-end and launch the vaccine for the 2024/2025 season, while also scaling down its COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing to meet lower post-pandemic demand.
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel asserts that the positive data on the company's influenza vaccine and their plans to launch 15 products in the next five years demonstrate that they are not solely a Covid vaccine company.
