XBB.1.5 Covid strain
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US Food and Drug Administration on Friday beneficial that Covid vaccine manufacturers are making single fall vaccines that target the XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant, dominant variety virus across the country.
“Based on the totality of the evidence, the FDA has advised manufacturers who will update their COVID-19 vaccines to develop vaccines with the monovalent formulation XBB 1.5,” the agency said in an announcement. releasereferring to pharmaceutical corporations Pfizer, Modern AND Novavax.
Monovalent means the injection is designed to guard against one variant of Covid.
XBB.1.5 is the offspring of the omicron variant that saw US cases spike to a record high early last yr. Additionally it is considered one of the most resistant strains thus far.
XBB.1.5 accounted for nearly 40% of all Covid cases in the US in early June, in line with data data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This percentage is slowly declining while cases of the related variants XBB.1.16 and XBB.2.3 are increasing.
The FDA’s decision follows the recommendations of the agency’s advisory panel on Thursday.
This panel unanimously voted that the latest vaccines should be monovalent and target a member of the XBB family. Advisors also generally agreed that targeting XBB.1.5 could be the most ideal option.
The FDA’s selection can be excellent news for Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax.
Three corporations are already developing updated versions of their shots that target XBB.1.5. Preliminary data presented by each company on Thursday suggest that these vaccines elicit a strong immune response against all XBB variants.
“Novavax is inspired by today’s FDA announcement, and the company’s COVID vaccine candidate XBB 1.5 is being commercially produced with the intention of launching a fall vaccination campaign,” a Novavax spokesperson said in an announcement to CNBC.
Pfizer said it might give you the option to deliver a monovalent injection targeting XBB.1.5 by July. Moderna and Novavax didn’t provide specific delivery dates.
Dr. Peter Marks, head of the FDA’s vaccines division, hinted Thursday that updated vaccines could possibly be available to the public around September.