FDA Advisors Unanimously Vote in Favor of Updated COVID-19 Shot

An FDA panel has approved an updated COVID-19 shot, which will be made publicly available in the fall of 2024 if officially approved by the government agency.

According to CNN, the independent panel unanimously voted for the updated vaccine on Wednesday, June 5, which will target the JN.1 variant of the virus.

The question that was asked was, “For the 2024-2025 Formula of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S., does the committee recommend a monovalent JN.1-lineage vaccine composition?”

This new vaccine will be a monovalent vaccine, meaning that it will only target one strain of the virus. Previous vaccines offered by pharmaceutical companies were bivalent vaccines, which means that they targeted two strains.

The CDC reports that the JN.1 variant, and its descendants KP.2 and KP.3 variants, are currently the most common COVID-19 variants.

The FDA panel claims that the current vaccines available on the market are inefficient against the most common strains of the virus today.

“JN.1 has continued to evolve, and it makes it somewhat difficult to pick the particular specific strain to be used,” Dr. Jerry Weir, director of the Division of Viral Products in the Office of Vaccines Research and Review at the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said to the FDA panel.

As of this writing, only 3% to 4% of people who are getting tested for COVID-19 come back with a positive test.

News of the updated vaccine recommendation comes amid reports that the existing vaccines are no longer profitable for pharmaceutical companies.

Last month, AstraZeneca announced that it would be pulling its vaccine from the market, citing a significant decrease in demand as its reason.

“As multiple, variant COVID-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines,” AstraZeneca said in emailed statement to Quartz. “This has led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied. AstraZeneca has therefore taken the decision to initiate withdrawal of the Marketing Authorisations for Vaxzevria within Europe.”

Additionally, Moderna, whose sole product on the market was its COVID-19 vaccine, reported a 91% decrease in profits in Q1 2024, or a net loss of $1.18 billion.

In an effort to recover from the post-pandemic downturn, Moderna further stated that it will start expanding the range of mRNA vaccines it offers, including a seasonal flu shot and a vaccine against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). If approved, the RSV vaccine is anticipated to go on sale in Q3 2024.