Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Bivalent Boosters Are Here. Now What?
Forbes: New Bivalent Covid-19 Boosters: When Should You Get These BA.4, BA.5 Updated Vaccines
Going forward, bivalent versions of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 mRNA boosters are what’s going to be available, replacing the original univalent ones. ... In the word univalent, “uni” refers to “one,” as it does in unitard or unibrow, and “valence” refers to the immune system stimulating items in the vaccine. So a univalent vaccine is designed to stimulate your immune system to protect against a single antigen or single microbe. The original univalent Covid-19 mRNA vaccines included one type of mRNA to serve a blueprints for your cells to produce the spike protein that studded the surface of the original version of the SARS-CoV-2. While this univalent vaccine still offers some protection against the currently circulating Covid-19 coronaviruses, its protection is limited since the viruses spike proteins have changed quite significantly. (Lee, 9/5)
NPR: Omicron COVID Boosters: Do I Need One, And If So, When?
After talking to several infectious disease experts, we found there's a whole range of opinions on who needs to boost and when. So, if you are navigating this decision, here are some things to consider. (9/5)
The Wall Street Journal: How Pfizer And BioNTech Modified Covid-19 Vaccines For Fall Boosters
Before new versions of the Omicron strain took hold in the U.S., Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE had begun tinkering with their widely used Covid-19 vaccine. In May, researchers tracking how coronavirus strains behave saw the potential for Omicron subvariants to predominate. Just in case, the companies started building blueprints of shots reformulated to target BA.4, BA.5 and other substrains, and laid the groundwork for testing them. (Hopkins, 9/5)
Stat: Pfizer Isn’t Sharing Covid Vaccines With Researchers For Next-Gen Studies
Researchers studying next-generation vaccines to fight an evolving Covid-19 threat are running into problems getting existing vaccines to use in their research. (Cohrs, 9/6)
In other covid vaccine news —
CBS News: Biden Administration Is Preparing For The End Of Free COVID-19 Vaccines As Funds Run Dry
Formal preparations are underway for the end of the federal COVID-19 vaccination and treatment effort, health officials say, with money for the Biden administration's campaign to buy and distribute shots to the public for free now set to run out "as early as January" 2023. (Tin, 9/2)
Euronews: China Approves The World's First Inhaled COVID Vaccine For Emergency Use As A Booster
The world's first inhaled COVID-19 vaccine has been approved in China. The Chinese company CanSino Biologics Inc said on Sunday its inhaled version of a coronavirus vaccine had been approved by the country's drug regulator for emergency use as a booster. (Huet, 9/5)
