The Food and Drug Administration reportedly is considering a new round of COVID-19 booster shots for individuals who are at high risk of severe disease, including those aged 65 or more years or those who have weakened immune systems.
The booster would likely be a bivalent vaccine like the ones authorized by the FDA in August 2022 and recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in September. The bivalent vaccine targets both the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and the omicron variant.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the agency’s deliberations, said that FDA officials could make the decision about clearing another round of boosters for those at high risk within a few weeks.
The deliberations come as some people especially vulnerable to infection have asked their physicians to give them a second round of the updated booster, even though the FDA hasn’t approved it. Some infectious disease experts have called on federal health officials to permit another booster shot to safeguard people with comparatively weaker immune defenses better, as the UK and Canada have done.
Federal officials, however, have been trying to move to an annual COVID-19 vaccination schedule, partly because many people have tired of frequent boostings. Other vaccine experts say that not enough evidence exists to support giving another boost more frequently.
An FDA spokesperson said in a statement to U.S. News and World Report: “We hope that simplifying the COVID-19 vaccine regimen in the not too distant future will lead to the vaccination of more individuals in the coming years as we learn to live alongside SARS-CoV-2. We continue to closely monitor the emerging data in the United States and globally, and we will base any decision on additional updated boosters upon those data.”
If the FDA authorizes another round of boosters, the CDC would have to recommend the boosters in order for them to be circulated widely.
According to a recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 31% of US adults said that they are “very worried” or “somewhat worried” about seriously getting sick with COVID-19, and 15% said that they are waiting for the CDC to issue new guidance on the next coronavirus shot.
