Submitted by Ed Marcuse
Today at 12:18 p.m.
Topics. COVID-19
This fall’s updated COVID-19 vaccines should target the SARS-CoV-2 XFG variant, the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) said yesterday.
At the meeting, the first since FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, resigned earlier this month, Natalie Thornburg, PhD, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) respiratory division, said XFG is a hybrid of two Omicron subvariants and has mutations linked to immune escape. As of April 11, the most recent date with available CDC variant data, XFG strains make up just over half of circulating variants in the United States.
FDA expected to give vaccine makers go-ahead
Vaccine makers Moderna and Sanofi discussed data on mice research suggesting that vaccines targeting XFG trigger higher antibody concentrations against circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains than Pfizer’s and Moderna’s current LP.8.1-targeting vaccines.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition recommended that vaccines target the LP.8.1 variant but said that XFG, NB.1.8.1, or other variants could also be used.
The recommendation now goes to the FDA, which is expected to allow vaccine manufacturers to start producing doses for the fall and winter respiratory illness season.