COVID Boosters for the Fall
Three Things Thursday
Three Things Thursday highlights three things I am paying attention to as an epidemiologist each week.
This week the focus is on COVID booster vaccines.
While the pandemic is officially in the rearview mirror, COVID-19 the disease has NOT gone away. More than 6600 Americans were admitted into the hospital for COVID last week. And more than 200 died.
COVID vaccines continue to be safe & effective.
Fall booster vaccines have been approved by FDA (more below). Here are the three things you NEED to know about fall COVID boosters.
Hoping this post helps to educate and empower you
to be healthy and create healthy communities.
FDA’s vaccine advisory committee (the Vaccines & Related Biological Products Advisory Committee — aka VRBPAC) met last week to discuss COVID-19 booster shots for Fall 2023. Here’s what you need to know —
Fall 2023 boosters will be monovalent (meaning they will include the mRNA or a nanoparticle of the spike protein of a single version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus). The original strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus will NOT be included in the vaccine. Only the Omicron variant will be included.
The new Omicron-only vaccines mirror (most closely) the variants of COVID-19 that are spreading worldwide right now. The virus has changed substantially over the past three years. The goal is to have the current vaccine match (as closely as possible) the variant(s) that are spreading. This allows the immune system to be stimulated by a vaccine that matches the virus that is spreading (thus increasing the effectiveness of the vaccine).Individuals will have the opportunity to get one of three vaccines in the fall. The Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax COVID vaccines will be available in the fall (with the Omicron-only variant formula). Pfizer and Moderna use an mRNA vaccine technology. Novavax, on the other hand, uses a more traditional vaccine technology; a nanoparticle of the spike protein (that has been engineered so it does NOT cause disease) is injected into the body triggering the immune system to build defenses specific to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
While FDA has approved the vaccine product and made the (clear) decision to manufacture and use the Omicron-only version of the COVID vaccine for the fall 2023 boosters, we do NOT know who will be eligible and when those people will be able to get a COVID booster shot in the fall. While FDA is responsible for approving the vaccine product, CDC is responsible for determining and approving who and when can receive the COVID vaccine.
Based on the science and data shared at the FDA meeting last week, I would guess that individuals over 65 years of age, who are immunocompromised, and who are pregnant/breastfeeding will be eligible for COVID booster shots in the fall.
Whether children or healthy adults who are not yet 65 will be eligible for a booster is still TBD (to be determined).
From a messaging standpoint, allowing everyone to get a booster in the fall will be the clearest path forward. However, it is unclear to me if there is a benefit to an additional booster shot for individuals who are healthy and not yet 65 years old.
It is clear that COVID booster shots have prevented severe illness, hospitalizations, and death among the elderly and immune-compromised. And pregnant people need to be vaccinated to protect themselves and to provide immunity to the newborn.
The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is meeting to discuss the epidemiology and effectiveness of the COVID vaccines TOMORROW. Based on the meeting agenda, it does NOT appear that ACIP will be voting on who will be eligible to get the COVID booster at tomorrow’s meeting. But you never know…
We are expecting ACIP to meet later this summer (or early in the fall) to discuss and approve who will be able to get a COVID booster vaccine and when those vaccines will be available.
We all need to stay tuned…
You can all join me and watch the ACIP meeting live (link to the webcast here).
More information to come. But know that the fall booster vaccine will be an Omicron-only (monovalent) vaccine. Before vaccines can go into individual arms, the ACIP must make vaccine recommendations and those recommendations must be approved by the CDC Director (who we expect to be Dr. Mandy Cohen).
If you have questions about what FDA has approved? or want to hear more about my fall COVID booster shot predictions? Ask me —
And be sure to share this information with your friends and family.
Hi, Dr. Dawson. Unrelated to this post, do you know when the RSV vaccine for senior citizens should be out? I asked my PCP about getting the vaccine for my parents, but I haven't heard a timeline.