CDC endorses updated COVID boosters, shots to begin soon
Source: AP
New COVID-19 boosters that target today’s most common omicron strains are set to begin soon after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed the updated shots Thursday. The decision by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky came shortly after the agency’s advisers said if enough people roll up their sleeves, the shots could blunt a winter surge.
“They can help restore protection that has waned since previous vaccination and were designed to provide broader protection,” she said in a statement. The tweaked shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna offer Americans a chance to get the most up-to-date protection at yet another critical period in the pandemic. They’re combination or “bivalent” shots — half the original vaccine and half protection against the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron versions now causing nearly all COVID-19 infections.
The CDC’s advisers struggled with who should get the new booster and when because only a similarly tweaked vaccine, not the exact recipe, has been studied in people so far.
But ultimately the panel deemed it the best option considering the U.S. still is experiencing tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases and about 500 deaths every day — even before an expected new winter wave.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-25d54eac31577dc30f7b2e0c0f11adda
This is the final decision by the CDC Director Rachelle Walensky. The CDC ACIP members earlier discussed and endorsed the bivalent vaccines in their meeting today, so this marks the final step.
= new reply since forum marked as read
The latest booster guidance is if you are going to get one, it shouldn't be no less than 2 months after the previous shot. I was aiming for about 5 - 6 months between boosters so I had a 2nd booster in May and am aiming to get this with a flu shot, some time in October/November or so.
The average time between boosters have generally been 4 - 6 months.
this will be the replacement for the previous boosters versus having another dose of the original as a booster. So yes, a boost of this will catch you up!
and will stick them in this reply to you (sorry 
)
That's good information to have
and there are vaccines for those annually - the most recent being "tetravalent" (with an annual combo of 4 of what are anticipated to be the predominate variants in circulation during a flu season).
The expectation is that the same type of process will evolve for this. They are aiming to get "combos" developed (these "bivalent" versions are the first going that route), and at some point in the future, the shots will probably move to biannual, and then annual.
The one unique thing about the mRNA vax development and changes for variants vs the flu ones, is that the mRNA ones can have the circulating variants ID'd up to 3-months before a fall season and get enough manufactured in time, whereas because much of the manufacturing for the flu vaccine relies on chicken eggs, that may need upwards of 6 - 7 months after identifying a strain/variant, to get enough ready for distribution. So doing it with mRNA is more "nimble" and the companies using that tech have been testing manufacturing flu shots that way vs using eggs (and vs making a whole lot of vaccine for a variant that ends up not being the one that hits the northern hemisphere despite being prevalent in the southern hemisphere during their summer)..
if Congress doesn't add any additional funding, then the availability of doses may extend well past January.
One the slides presented at yesterday's CDC ACIP meeting -
What might be do-able, considering that CDC wants to now consider the "bivalent" booster as THE booster (vs just using another dose of the current vaccines) and considering that the bivalents are basically a combo of "the original" monovalent + their "new" Omicron-BA.4/BA.5 monovalent, then I'm wondering if they could actually recover unused "original" and just buy the Omicron monovalent and do some kind of manual combo of that (which would be a dilution of each by 1/2 before combining).
I've had a tough enough time convincing my brother! 
I know CDC is going through a whole "revamping" process to try to improve their messaging and what their vaccine Committee did yesterday was to start evolving their their guidance to simplify the handling of the boosters so that their recommendations are easier to understand and carry out.
ETA - their simplified booster recommendations -
From the beginning, he keeps asking "How many more??" And now the nearby clinic in the old Sears store at the mall has shit down, I'm hoping it opens again when this next booster is offered. It's also quite near the school(s) and when I took my brother there were young teens there with their Moms. So here's hoping that eligible school kids will be going there to get their boosters, too! Thanks for the new info! 
only about 1/3rd of the eligible have gotten a 2nd booster, so he is not alone.
I know there is quite a bit of "vaccine fatigue" going on, considering what it took (including mandates) to at least get 70% done with the original series, and this is with over 1 million just here in the U.S. who died from the virus. 
Well, so did I, but I figured that meant it was working... 
And I got all mine. When I got the last one, I didn't feel great (this sinus issue I've been dealing with since before the pandemic - and then doctors' offices closed down) and the pharmacist asked if I wanted to reschedule, but I was there so I got it anyway. I just need to check the date.
And no matter how crappy you feel after getting the shot, isn't that a lot better than Covid?? I'll have to use that with my brother.
and I so far lucked out when I got my 2nd booster - I had no reaction at all, not even the sore arm that I had from the 2 initial shots and 1st booster. Whenever I do get the bivalent one, that may change though.
Which was better than feeling ill like I did after #2 and #3. And I try to schedule them when I don't have to be anywhere the next day. My brother doesn't have that problem.. 
I think they did the one that had been worked on initially that covered Omicron BA.1 (where they mix their mRNA-1273 original with their newer mRNA-1273.214 that did elicit a good response for BA.4/BA.5).
The U.S. version will be using the mRNA-1273.222 (FDA requested that both Moderna and Pfizer go with their explicit BA.4/BA.5 add-ons).
and they issued this guidance via a press release -
JCVI publishes advice on COVID-19 vaccines for autumn booster programme
All of the available boosters provide good protection against severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19).
From: UK Health Security Agency
Published 15 August 2022
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has published its advice on which vaccines should be used in this year’s autumn booster programme.
All of the available boosters provide good protection against severe illness from COVID-19 and the Committee has emphasised that getting a booster in good time before the winter season is more important for those eligible than the type of vaccine that is received.
The vaccines advised for use in the autumn booster programme are:
For adults aged 18 years and above:
Moderna mRNA (Spikevax) bivalent Omicron BA.1/Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine Moderna mRNA (Spikevax) Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine
in exceptional circumstances, the Novavax Matrix-M adjuvanted wild-type vaccine (Nuvaxovid) may be used when no alternative clinically suitable UK-approved COVID-19 vaccine is available
For people aged 12 to 17 years:
Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine
For people aged 5 to 11 years:
Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine paediatric formulation
‘Bivalent’ vaccines have been developed by global manufacturers since the emergence and dominance of the Omicron variant. These vaccines contain two different antigens (substances that induce an immune response) based on two different COVID-19 strains, or variants. The original mRNA vaccines contain one antigen (monovalent), based on the original ‘wild-type’ strain.
Studies indicate the Moderna bivalent vaccine produces a marginally higher immune response against some variants than the Moderna mRNA Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine. The clinical relevance of these small differences is uncertain.
The committee will consider further bivalent vaccines for use in the programme as they are approved by the MHRA.
In its latest advice the JCVI has stated that, where feasible, it would be preferable for a single type of booster vaccine to be offered throughout the duration of the autumn programme for simplicity of deployment.
(snip)
More: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jcvi-publishes-advice-on-covid-19-vaccines-for-autumn-booster-programme
^^^mention of the Moderna bivalent bolded above
Their "further consideration" mention is probably regarding Pfizer's bivalent and whenever that gets approved there.
Of course how soon they get to the Chemists' is another issue.
you'll get the BA.4/BA.5 version so it will better target those currently circulating variants better than Moderna's BA.1 version that the UK approved (although that one did work better than the original alone and had the most clinical trial data for it at approval time, which is why they went with that rather than the one we approved that is still doing trials).
Last edited Wed Feb 21, 2024, 02:47 AM - Edit history (44)
I refuse to live in fear of getting Covid (particularly in view of my age) when getting vaccinated can minimize if not deflect it altogether; or to risk spreading it via the working, traveling, and just plain living I have due to accomplish. In addition, getting the booster this soon will allow me to get my seasonal "common" flu vaccine "on schedule" in late October (in order to have the fullest-strength protection by January).
#FluVaccineByHalloween
Rocknation
