FDA recommends updating boosters to target Omicron

Editor's Note

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on June 28 recommended updating the composition of COVID-19 booster vaccines to target the Omicron variant.

The Committee noted that booster doses consisting of an Omicron monovalent or bivalent vaccine could improve neutralizing antibody responses to Omicron without compromising the neutralizing antibody response to the strain the initial vaccine targeted.

The FDA must now determine the precise formula needed so Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech can modify their vaccines and get authorization in time for administration this fall.