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COVID-19 vaccine: US recommends 1 booster shot every year

HO CHI MINH CITY –

US health officials want the COVID-19 vaccine to be the same as the annual flu shot.

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday proposed a simplified approach to future vaccination efforts, allowing most adults and children to be vaccinated once a year to protect against mutant virus.

This means Americans will no longer have to track how many shots they’ve had or how many months have passed since their last booster shot.

The proposal comes as boosters have become a hard sell. While more than 80% of the U.S. population received at least one dose of the vaccine, only 16% of those eligible received the most recent booster dose allowed in August.

The FDA will ask a panel of outside vaccine experts to weigh in at a meeting on Thursday. The agency is expected to consider its advice while deciding future vaccine requirements for vaccine manufacturers.

In documents posted online, FDA scientists say many Americans now have “full pre-existing immunity” against the coronavirus through vaccination, infection, or a combination of the two. According to the agency, that protection should be enough to switch to an annual booster shot against the latest strains in circulation and make the COVID-19 vaccination more like an annual flu shot.

For adults with weakened immune systems and young children, a combination of two doses may be needed for protection. FDA vaccine scientists and companies will study vaccination coverage, infection rates and other data to decide who should get one shot versus a series of two doses.

The FDA will also seek input on converting all vaccines to target the same strain. That step would be necessary to make the injections interchangeable, eliminating the current complex system of basic vaccinations and boosters.

Pfizer and Moderna’s initial shots – known as the main series – were aimed at the strain of the virus that first emerged in 2020 and quickly swept the world. The updated boosters launched last fall have also been adapted to target the already dominant omicron relatives.

As suggested by the FDA, the agency, independent experts, and manufacturers would decide annually on targeting in early summer, allowing several months to produce and roll out updated shots before Fall. That’s roughly the same approach used long ago to select strains for the annual flu vaccine.

Ultimately, FDA officials say moving to an annual schedule will make it easier to promote future vaccination campaigns, which could ultimately raise vaccination rates nationally.

The initial two-dose COVID shots provided strong protection against serious illness and death regardless of variant, but protection against mild infections waned. Experts continue to debate whether the latest surge significantly enhances protection, especially for young, healthy Americans.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Division receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science and Media Education Group. AP is solely responsible for all content.



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