The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved updated COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer as a new wave of cases hits the United States this summer.
The FDA said in a statement that the vaccines have been updated with a new formula “to more specifically target the variants currently circulating and provide better protection against the serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death.”
The approved vaccines include a component that hits the highly transmissible KP.2 strain of the variant omicron.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already recommended the vaccine for everyone, starting at 6 months of age. Vaccines could be Available in a matter of days.
The FDA warned COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers in early June that their vaccines must more effectively target the KP.2 strain.
“Vaccination remains a cornerstone of COVID-19 prevention,” said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “These updated vaccines meet the agency’s rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality.”
The FDA said it “strongly encouraged those who qualify to consider receiving an updated COVID-19 vaccine.”
The updated vaccines include those from manufacturers Comirnaty and Spikevax, both approved for people 12 and older, as well as those from Moderna and Pfizer, both authorized for emergency use in people between 6 months and 11 years of age.
A Pfizer spokesperson told that the company submitted data to the FDA showing its updated vaccine “generates a substantially improved response” against multiple virus subtypes compared with last fall’s vaccine.
Skipping the new vaccine is “a dangerous way to go,” because even if your last infection was mild, the next one could be worse or leave you with lasting symptoms, warned Dr. Robert Hopkins Jr. of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
When to get vaccinated?
Although this summer’s COVID-19 surge is not over, the ones that inevitably emerge in the winter tend to be worse. And while vaccines do a good job of preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death, protection against mild infection lasts only a few months.
Hopkins advised that people at high risk for contracting the virus should not wait, but instead schedule their vaccination appointment once vaccines are available in their area.
These include older adults, people with weakened immune systems or other serious medical problems, residents of nursing homes, and pregnant women.
Young adults and healthy children can get vaccinated at any time. “I don’t think there’s any real reason to wait,” Hopkins added.
A clarification for those who have just had COVID-19
The CDC said anyone who has recently had COVID-19 can wait three months after recovering before getting vaccinated, until immunity from that infection begins to wane.
Hopkins, who sees patients at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said it’s vital that more young people get vaccinated this year, especially as school starts again, as coronavirus levels are high across the country.
“COVID-19 doesn’t kill many children, thank God, but it kills many more than the flu,” Hopkins said, adding that teachers should also be quickly updated on the vaccine.
Health officials said it is OK to get the COVID-19 and flu vaccines at the same time, so that a person does not have to make two visits.
Although many pharmacies already advertise flu shots, the best time to get one is usually between late September and October, just before the flu starts to escalate with the cold weather.
