Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Next Round Of Covid Shots Should Be Omicron-Fighters: FDA
CNBC: FDA Panel Recommends Changing Covid Shots To Fight Omicron This Fall
The Food and Drug Administration’s panel of independent vaccine experts on Tuesday voted 19 to 2 to recommend new Covid-19 shots that target the omicron variant this fall, when public health officials are expecting a new wave of infections. It is the first time the panel has proposed that vaccine makers modify the shots to target a different variant. The FDA will likely accept the committee’s recommendation and authorize a vaccine change. However, the panel did not make a recommendation on which omicron subvariant the shots should target. (Kimball, 6/28)
The Wall Street Journal: FDA Advisers Recommend Modifying Covid-19 Boosters To Target Omicron
This would be the first change to the composition of the shots since they began rolling out in December 2020. ... The vote didn’t specify whether the modified boosters should only target Omicron, or target both Omicron and the ancestral strain of the coronavirus, though several committee members said they preferred a dual-target approach. The vote also didn’t specify whether the modified shots should target more recent subvariants of Omicron now dominant in the U.S. (Loftus and Hopkins, 6/28)
The Washington Post: Coronavirus Vaccines Should Be Updated For Fall, FDA Advisers Say
Companies need several months to manufacture a new vaccine, so the deadline to choose a vaccine formula to be ready to roll out in October has arrived. The FDA is expected to issue a final decision in the coming days. But no one knows what variants will be circulating this winter, and it is reasonable to expect that any omicron variant incorporated into the updated vaccine will be in the rearview mirror by the time shots are going into arms. Updated vaccines that include BA.1 have been in human tests for months, but that variant circulated this winter and has already been eclipsed by other versions of omicron; the subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 already make up half of the cases in the United States. (Johnson and Shepherd, 6/28)
Axios: COVID Vaccine Strategy Still Murky After FDA Experts Meet
The COVID-19 vaccine strategy for the fall remains beset with unanswered questions after an FDA expert panel on Tuesday spent hours debating how and whether to update the shots. Time is running short to develop a game plan with existing vaccines losing effectiveness against new variants and more than half of Americans still without a booster dose. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 19-2 to recommend an Omicron-specific update to COVID-19 booster vaccines expected to be rolled out within the next few months. (Bettelheim and Reed, 6/29)
In other news on the vaccine rollout —
ABC News: Millions Remain Unboosted, As Scientists Say 3rd COVID Shot Provides 'Significant' Protection
As advisors to the FDA consider what type of COVID-19 shots should be offered in the fall, new federal data reveals a significant proportion of Americans have yet to receive their first and second boosters. ... Since the rollout, earlier this spring, fewer than a fifth of eligible people ages 50 to 64 have received their second boost -- only about 8% of the age group. Uptake is a bit higher among the elderly, with 35% of those eligible — representing just 20% of the age group. (Mitropoulos, 6/28)
Bloomberg: Sesame Street's Elmo Gets 'Vaccinated' In CDC Covid-19 Vaccine Advertisement
Elmo got his Covid-19 vaccine. Sesame Street’s iconic, perpetually three-year-old Muppet got his Covid-19 shot in a public service announcement released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday. The video comes just days after the vaccinations became available for children five years and younger. The US Food and Drug Administration and CDC authorized the Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE shots for use in younger children on June 17 and 18, respectively. (York, 6/28)
And more on the spread of covid —
CIDRAP: Study: In Most Young Adults, COVID-19 Infectious Period Lasts Only 5 Days
A new study from researchers at Boston University (BU) shows that, for all but 17% of healthy, vaccinated young adults, the infectious period for COVID-19 from the Delta and Omicron variants was 5 days. The study was recently published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The study involved 92 SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR–positive participants who had all been fully vaccinated with an initial series of COVID-19 vaccine. Tests showed 17 (18.5%) were infected with Delta and 75 (81.5%) with Omicron. (6/28)
Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Easier To Get, Harder To Avoid In California
The number of coronavirus cases reported in California is on the brink of crossing 10 million, a milestone that probably undercounts the total significantly yet still carries an increasing sense of inevitability. Since the hyper-transmissible Omicron variant stormed onto the scene in early December, the virus has wormed its way into seemingly every family and social circle. Residents who for years escaped infection were swept up in the resulting tidal wave of cases, though for many, the severity of illness has been lessened by vaccines, the availability of therapeutics and other factors. (Money, 6/28)
