FDA advisers consider changing COVID vaccine to target latest omicron strain

The COVID-19 vaccines are on track for a big recipe change this fall.

Today’s vaccines still contain the original coronavirus strain, the one that started the pandemic — even though that was long ago supplanted by mutated versions as the virus rapidly evolves.

Today, the US Food and Drug Administration’s scientific advisers are reviewing whether the next round of shots in the US should only include protection against the newest variants that are now dominant worldwide — a branch of the omicron family tree named XBB.

While infections have declined, the virus could be a real concern next winter, FDA’s vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks says as the daylong meeting began.

“We’re concerned that we may have another wave of COVID-19 during a time when the virus has further evolved, immunity of the population has waned further, and we move indoors for wintertime,” he says.