FDA Committee To Meet Over COVID Shots

A committee with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is now in place meet This week, we will be discussing COVID-19 vaccines and future recommendations. 

Thursday will see the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting meet To discuss the various steps in regard to COVID-19 vaccinations. 

A briefing document FDA indicated that it hopes the meeting will bring together a variety of topics, including making immunizations easier for immunocompromised and younger people. It also stated that the FDA wants the committee to consider giving two shots to older people and children who are immunocompromised. The FDA wants the panel think about a system of vaccination recommendations that is similar to the flu shot. 

The document pointed out that the mRNA bivalent booster shots’ rollout “has been associated with significant implementation complexities,” Adding that this information and others is available, “a move to a single vaccine composition for primary and booster vaccinations should be considered.”

Due to the knowledge about vaccines and previous exposure to the virus most people only require one shot to protect themselves for a specific time. The document also stated that people younger than 18 who have not been exposed to COVID-19 may need two shots. 

The agency also stated that it expects to conduct a review. “SARS-CoV-2 strains” At least once a year, and to ask the panel about it around June each year “strain selection for the fall season.” Then, a recommendation for the vaccine composition would be chosen and created to be ready by the fall — “no later than September of each calendar year.”

These numbers suggest that COVID-19 booster shot popularity was not as high last year.

Morning Consult report The December poll showed that 53% of American adults expected to receive a booster in 2019. However, this was only 5% less than the September survey. In addition, 47% of vaccinated American adults who didn’t get a booster in the fall said they weren’t going to get the new bivalent booster. 

Over 40% of those who hadn’t gotten the bivalent booster for Omicron also said a reason they didn’t get it was because they didn’t understand a point in getting an additional shot on top of other COVID-19 vaccines. Similar percentages cited not having to worry about COVID-19 as a reason not to get another shot.

The interest in the booster was also slow to begin last year. Only 3.6% had received the booster. booster In the first weeks of its availability. 

The most current data published According to the CDC, only 15.3% of all Americans have received the bivalent booster dose.