FDA panel says Covid vaccines can stay the same for fall amid access concerns

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

May 22, 2025, 4:35 PM EDT


A sense of unease permeated the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee meeting Thursday. The advisers had convened for what’s become a standard practice over the past few years: selecting a new strain for the fall’s updated Covid vaccines. Complicating matters, however, were new FDA rules for the updated Covid vaccines, announced just days earlier, that would restrict access of the shots to only the most at-risk Americans.

Under the rules, updated Covid vaccines for healthy children and adults under 65 must undergo additional placebo-controlled clinical trials — meaning some people would get the actual vaccine while others would get an inactive substance like a saline shot. The original Covid vaccines, approved in late 2020, went through this process. Since then, drugmakers transitioned over to a flu-vaccine model, using smaller studies to test whether the shots generated an immune response against the variant in question.

New Covid vaccines for another group — adults 65 and up and kids and adults with at least one medical condition that puts them at risk for severe illness — were exempted from the new requirement, meaning additional clinical trials aren’t needed.

Committee members grappled with a tough choice: recommend updating the vaccine, which could make it more effective but harder for healthy kids and adults to get, or stick with the current version, which might not work as well but would be easier for more people to access.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-panel-says-covid-vaccines-can-stay-fall-access-concerns-rcna208492

[Irish_Dem]

1. Some people will die because of this decision.

[Karasu]

5. RFK Jr. is clearly TRYING to do just that. There's no other explanation for this shit.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Yes. The goal appears to be to make people sick and cause death.

[LauraInLA]

3. I know this is just the panel's recommendation, but it is unfortunate -- my pulmonologist says the 2024-2025

vaccine was pretty ineffective, based on the number of vaccinated cases . He was hopeful the new update would work better.

[progree]

7. "Ultimately, the committee unanimously voted to stick with ... the same strains used in current shots"

Ultimately, the committee unanimously voted to stick with vaccines targeting JN.1 or its lineages — the same strains used in the current shots. (Novavax’s shot targets JN.1; Pfizer’s and Moderna’s shots target KP.2, a descendant of JN.1.)

===================================================================
Quick Google search:
https://www.nebraskamed.com/COVID/what-covid-19-variants-are-going-around

What COVID-19 variants are going around in May 2025?, Nebraska Medicine

Currently, the dominant variant nationwide is LP.8.1, with 70% of cases, followed by XFC, with 9% of cases, and XEC, with 6% of cases. "The original omicron variant is gone now," says Dr. Rupp. "Currently subvariants of omicron are circulating, including MC.1.10.1, LB.1.3.1, and LF.7."

A bar graphic has a listing of the most common 19 or so strains. The two "JN" ones on this listing -- JN1.16 and JN.1 -- are "NA" and listed below the 0% ones. The only KP ones on the list are KP3.1.1 at 1% and KP3 at 0%

=================================================
It looks like the panel approved placebo shots. If that's all that's available this fall, I'm going to skip it (I'm over 70).

Couldn't they also separately recommend ones targetting more current strains for seniors and other at-risk groups?

[progree]

8. MUCH DIFFERENT SPIN from NPR -

Vaccine advisers to the FDA recommended changes to COVID vaccines', NPR, 5/22/25

The companies that make COVID-19 vaccines should update the shots again to target a variant closer to the strains currently on the rise, a committee of independent advisers to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended Thursday.

Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and Novavax should target strains related to the JN.1 variant with their vaccines for next fall and winter because that strain is closer to the new variants of the virus that are circulating, the advisers voted after a day-long meeting.

The recommendation came after the companies presented data that shows that vaccines based on viruses related to JN.1 strains produce strong protection against the latest versions of the virus, such as LP.8.1, which has become dominant in the U.S.

The current Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech's mRNA vaccines target the KP.2 strain. Novavax's shot targets a JN.1 strain.

The committee was uncertain about which particular JN.1 subvariant would be the best pick because it isn't known which strain may be dominant by the fall. The FDA will now work with the companies to make a final decision, officials said.

The advisory panel's vote is consistent with the World Health Organization's recommendation for the next set of vaccines ( https://www.who.int/news/item/15-05-2025-statement-on-the-antigen-composition-of-covid-19-vaccines ).

. . . Even though COVID is still claiming more lives than the flu, most U.S. adults have declined to get vaccinated against COVID in recent years and even fewer parents have opted to vaccinate their children. Children tend to be far less likely to get seriously ill from COVID, but the disease can still be serious for them, especially very young children.

More: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/05/22/npr-covid-booster-change-fda

All emphasis added by progree

There's also some stuff about the healthy and young vs. old and high-risk, but adds nothing to what's already in this thread.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Wow, that's confusing. The distinctions between old and new vaccines are lost at some points.

Who's running the Covid vaccine system? The scientists, the doctors, the statisticians, or the Congressional money?

Bob Kennedy let this happen?