Sticking with the same jab

If you can get it

• Sticking with the same jab - if you can get it

FDA's VRBPAC advisors recommended moments ago to stick with targeting the JN.1 group of Omicron subvariants, which currently includes KP.2 for the mRNA vaccines (the recently licensed Novavax targets JN.1). There was also sentiment for updating the target to LP.8.1 that is now dominant in the US, although this additional change could be complicated by recent changes in FDA policy.

This was expected as WHO had recently made the same decision with an option to refine the target further by using LP.8.1. WHO's Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-CO-VAC) was at the meeting to share the global data they used in their decision (despite the US withdrawing from WHO and from negotiations on a global treaty for pandemic preparedness and response that the rest of the world agreed to on Monday).

VRBPAC's recommendation to FDA's new commissioner, Makary, is legally non-binding. There are also many outstanding questions about the fall vaccines given FDA's unusual policy announcement-by-editorial in a medical journal on Tuesday limiting vaccine eligibility to only people over 65 and younger people with risks of getting serious COVID infections. So it's been an impactful week - but it's only Thursday.

Stay tuned for more details on the meeting.