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CDC panel recommends updated COVID vaccines

Published:Tuesday | September 12, 2023 | 4:17 PM
This photo provided by Pfizer in September 2023 shows single-dose vials of the company’s updated COVID-19 vaccine for adults. US regulators have approved updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, shots aimed at revving up protection this fall and winter. The Food and Drug Administration’s decision Monday, September 11, 2023, is part of a shift to treat fall COVID-19 vaccine updates much like getting a yearly flu shot. (Pfizer via AP)

Americans may soon be able to get an updated COVID-19 vaccine.

Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday endorsed the new shots for everyone 6 months of age and older.

The agency's director is expected to sign off on the panel's recommendation.

The vaccines could be available this week.

The severity of the COVID-19 pandemic has faded, but there are still hundreds of hospitalisations and hundreds of deaths in the US each week.

Hospitalisations have been increasing since late summer, though the latest data indicate infections may be starting to level off, particularly in the South.

Still, experts worry that immunity from previous vaccinations and infections is fading in many people, and a new shot would save many lives.

Doctors hope enough people get vaccinated to help avert another “tripledemic” like last year when hospitals were overwhelmed with an early flu season, an onslaught of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, and yet another winter coronavirus surge.

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