![]() The FDA authorization was based on clinical trials of earlier versions of bivalent boosters (made with components of previous SARS-CoV-2 variants), mouse studies of the current bivalent boosters and real-world experience with the COVID mRNA vaccines. “I wish that we had had these updated vaccines earlier.” How effective are the boosters? ![]() “This is part of the benefit of having an mRNA vaccine, where you can change only the variants and keep everything else consistent,” says Gigi Gronvall, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The overall dose of each updated booster is also the same as the original boosters. All of the other ingredients-such as lipids, salts and acids, which help protect the mRNA and deliver it to our cells, balance acidity and maintain the stability of the vaccine-haven’t changed from the original formulation. (The protein from those two subvariants is extremely similar.) This is why the new shots induce a broader immune response. The updated boosters contain mRNA instructions for both the ancestral spike protein and the one on Omicron BA.4 and BA.5. When the human immune system detects that protein, it starts to produce antibodies and activate other immune cells that can fight the actual virus. Once injected, it can’t create a whole virus, but it does tell cells to build one isolated piece, the infamous spike protein found on the surface of SARS-CoV-2. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID vaccines contain snippets of viral genetic material called mRNA. We’ll also cover a few things that scientists are still trying to figure out. Here is what we know about the makeup, effectiveness and safety of the new vaccine formulations, which are known as bivalent shots because they contain components of two versions of the virus. ![]() So it’s great timing for what is expected to be a fall wave of cases.” “As people congregate closer together in winter months, they’re more likely to spread microbes between them. “It comes at a fortuitous time,” says epidemiologist Ali Khan, dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health. government is pushing for a rapid and wide rollout before an anticipated increase of cases in fall and winter months. That’s an issue because people are tired of frequent requests to get yet another shot. Still, some scientists point out we have no hard evidence the new shots will provide longer-lasting protection than previous boosters. Clinical studies of similar two-part COVID boosters, as well as mouse research with these specific formulations, suggest that will be the case. The new booster shots are expected to trigger a better immune response against the new subvariants. This is the first change for the Pfizer and Moderna shots since they were introduced two years ago, when they contained only genetic material from the ancestral form of the virus. On the week ending on September 10, BA.5 was estimated to be responsible for 87.5 percent of news infections in the U.S. The updated boosters target the newer, widely spread Omicron subvariants of the COVID-causing virus, BA.4 and BA.5, as well as the early 2020 form of the microbe, known as the ancestral strain. ![]() ![]() Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That decision was quickly endorsed by an immunization advisory panel at the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration authorized new formulations of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccines for use as a single booster dose just a few weeks ago. A new generation of COVID booster shots are now available to most people 12 years of age and older in the U.S. ![]()
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