April 25, 2024

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Two COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron BA.4/5 approved in US

Two COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron BA.4/5 approved in US



 

Two COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron BA.4/5 approved in US.


On August 31, the bivalent (against two strains) COVID-19 vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech were approved for emergency use in the United States, respectively for booster vaccination of people aged 18 and over and 12 years and over. 

These two vaccines are designed based on the original strain and the currently circulating Omicron BA.4/5.

 

Two COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron BA.4/5 approved in US

 

Peter Marks, head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) vaccine division, said at a news conference on the same day that this year’s fall and winter epidemic wave is expected to peak in early December, and the updated booster vaccine has Help control current infection rates and prevent future surges.

 

According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Omicron BA.5 has replaced BA.2 as the main epidemic strain since June. Last week, Omicron BA.5 accounted for 88.7%, BA.4 and Its branches accounted for 11.1%.

 

The two newly approved vaccines can further reduce the severe disease and mortality caused by Omicron, but in terms of dealing with the breakthrough infection rate of future mutants , the effect is more limited.

 

It is worth noting that both vaccines currently lack human-related clinical trial data. The FDA’s approval is mainly based on the mouse experimental data of the two vaccines and the human test results of Moderna’s other bivalent vaccine (including the original strain and Omicron BA.1).

 

The FDA said it hopes the updated vaccine will boost antibody levels to return to the high protection rates of the original vaccine, but it is not yet certain when clinical data for both vaccines will be available.

 

Experts believe that the new generation of vaccines developed by the mRNA technology route only needs to change part of the sequence to improve its effectiveness, and the safety will not change, which is also an advantage that other technology routes do not have.

Two weeks ago, the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna against the original strain and Omicron BA.1 was the first to be approved in the UK for adult booster immunization.

 

 

 

Two COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron BA.4/5 approved in US

(source:internet, reference only)


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