US CDC recommends broad use of updated COVID-19 vaccines

Sep 12 (Reuters) – The director of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved on Tuesday wide use of updated government-approved COVID-19 vaccines, covering ages 6 months and up, as the country prepares to begin a vaccination campaign Within days.

Director Mandy Cohen’s final recommendation comes after a panel of agency advisors voted 13-1 to recommend shots made by Pfizer. (PFE.N) and partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) as well as modern (ARNM.O).

They did not choose to target vaccines at specific high-risk populations, as some experts have suggested and other countries have recommended. The shots are part of an effort by public health officials to more closely align upcoming COVID vaccines with the actual circulating variant of the virus, much like how annual flu vaccines are designed.

The recommendation differs from those of most European countries that have issued guidance. This month, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said vaccination programs in EU countries should prioritize people aged 60 and over, as well as other vulnerable groups.

In Germany, booster shots have been targeted at these groups, while the British government’s vaccine committee said only adults aged 65 and over and some other categories will be offered the vaccine, as they are the most chances of benefiting.

Members of the U.S. CDC panel said simply recommending the vaccine for everyone outweighed the complications created by tailoring recommendations more precisely.

“I am strongly in favor of a universal recommendation,” said panel member Dr. Camille Kotton, a professor at Harvard Medical School. “Let’s end COVID-19 as best we can by preventing the disease through vaccines.”

CDC advisors met a day after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Approved updated COVID vaccines made by pfizer (PFE.N) and its German partner BioNTech (22UAy.DE) as well as by Moderna (ARNM.O) for people 12 years and older, and authorized them for emergency use in children 6 months to 11 years.

Pfizer and Moderna have said vaccines can be rolled out in the coming days, and the CDC said they will be available later this week.

Novavax (NVAX.O)‘s protein-based injection is still under review by the FDA and a recommendation for it is expected to be in line with the FDA decision.

A VIRUS IN CONTINUOUS EVOLUTION

Formulating vaccines to target the latest, ever-evolving coronavirus variants has been a challenge for public health officials globally since the pandemic began in 2020, and some variants are more concerning than others. The most widely circulating variants in the United States are now subvariants of what is called the XBB lineage of the virus.

The updated shots are monovalent or single-target vaccines, targeting what is called the XBB.1.5 variant, such as requested by the FDA.

“I think a broad surge strategy makes sense,” said Caitlin Rivers, a senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, adding that while the virus was not causing as many hospitalizations and deaths as before, it is still causing circulating.

Rivers added that he was curious to hear the committee’s recommendation for young men, “because we see that in rare cases, young men can develop myocarditis or related effects,” referring to a condition in which inflammation develops in the muscle layer. middle of the heart wall.

The rate of myocarditis after receiving booster doses in adolescent and young adult men is lower than that seen after the primary series of injections, CDC official Megan Wallace said at the meeting.

He said data is limited due to fewer booster doses administered, adding that longer intervals between booster doses may also have an impact on myocarditis rates in this population.

COVID infections and hospitalizations have increased in the United States, Europe and Asia, but remain well below previous peaks. Deaths are relatively low in the United States (about 2,000 were reported last month), although the country has experienced 1.1 million COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.