Omicron-Specific Boosters Could Be Available By Labor Day

Topline

New Covid-19 booster shots targeting the highly contagious omicron variant could be available soon after Labor Day, according to multiple reports, and all Americans 12 years and older will be eligible for the shot, which experts hope will provide an additional tool in the fight against the coronavirus and guard against a winter surge.

A nurse administers a Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot.

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Key Facts

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to sign off on the new bivalent Covid shots—which target both the original Covid strain as well as omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5—next week, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the process.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will then have a meeting September 1 and 2, with Director Rochelle Walensky likely to give the final sign off on the shots shortly after, paving the way for them to be available as soon as September 3, according to Bloomberg.

Pfizer’s booster will be available to everyone 12 and older, while Moderna’s shot will only be offered to adults, according to the New York Times.

Those who have already received one or two booster shots are still eligible for the omicron vaccine, the Times reported, though those who have recently received a dose might be advised to wait “a few months” before getting the retooled booster, Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine regulator, told the outlet.

Those at high risk for severe disease who were recently boosted with the original Covid vaccine will still be protected for “some period of time,” but should get the omicron-specific booster within “a couple of months,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Forbes, adding those vulnerable to severe disease who have not gotten a recent shot should get the omicron booster right away.

Adalja said for those not at high risk who are up to date on their Covid shots, it might be beneficial to wait to “see how the data plays out” in terms of how well the shot protects against infection and what the virus “look[s] like at the time boosters are available,” including whether it mutates.

Big Number

10 to 15 million. That’s how many omicron booster doses will be available to start, out of a total order of 171 million shots, according to Bloomberg, which cited a source familiar with the vaccine distribution.

Crucial Quote

“We have really got to do better to protect the American public,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, told the Times this week. “We are in the middle of a BA.5 outbreak here, and we are nowhere near where we want to be.”

Surprising Fact

Only about half of those who have received the primary series of vaccines have gotten a booster dose, according to the CDC.

Key Background

The FDA advised pharmaceutical companies in June to update Covid vaccines to target the omicron substrains BA.4 and BA.5. Moderna and Pfizer submitted applications to the FDA for emergency use authorization for their respective booster shots targeting BA.4 and BA.5 this week. The closely related subvariants have quickly become dominant in the U.S.: BA.5 comprised 88.7% of all coronavirus infections this week, according to estimates from the CDC. The new strains caused an uptick in Covid infections and hospitalizations in June and July, though cases have gradually started to fall. Data suggests the new variants are more effective than previous Covid strains at evading immunity from vaccines and previous infections. The strains have specific mutations in their spike proteins—the part of the virus that binds to the human cell—that help them do so. The federal government has warned several factors such as winter weather, a rapidly evolving virus and waning immunity could fuel a rise in serious Covid infections. Marks told the Times Americans’ complacency might impede vaccination efforts, while some experts have raised concerns repeated booster shots might be an impractical and unviable solution for tackling the pandemic.

Omicron-Specific Boosters Could Be Available By Labor Day—Here’s Who Should Get One