Sat | Jul 4, 2026

US clears updated COVID boosters targeting newest variants

Published:Wednesday | August 31, 2022 | 6:07 PM
A pharmacist injects a patient with a booster dosage of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, December 29, 2021. US regulators have authorised updated COVID-19 boosters, the first to directly target today's most common omicron strain. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Wednesday authorised its first update to COVID-19 vaccines, booster doses that target today's most common omicron strain.

Shots could begin within days.

The move by the Food and Drug Administration tweaks the recipe of shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna that already have saved millions of lives.

The hope is that the modified boosters will blunt yet another winter surge — and help tamp down the BA.5 omicron relative that continues to spread widely.

“These updated boosters present us with an opportunity to get ahead” of the next COVID-19 wave, said FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf.

Until now, COVID-19 vaccines have targeted the original coronavirus strain, even as wildly different mutants emerged.

The new US boosters are combination, or “bivalent,” shots.

They contain half that original vaccine recipe and half protection against the newest omicron versions, BA.4 and BA.5, that are considered the most contagious yet.

The combination aims to increase cross-protection against multiple variants.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.