U.S. regulators have cleared a third updated COVID-19 vaccine for this fall, shots made by Novavax Inc.
Already, are shipping shots modified to better match more recent strains of the ever-evolving coronavirus. Those doses can be used in adults and children as young as 6 months.
Friday, the Food and Drug Administration gave the OK to the updated Novavax formula, too — and those shots are open to anyone 12 and older.
While most Americans have some degree of immunity from prior infections or vaccinations or both, that protection wanes. Despite this , winter surges of COVID-19 tend to be worse and health officials are urging Americans to get one of the vaccine options this fall.
Novavax makes a protein-based vaccine mixed with an immune booster, a different technology than Pfizer and Moderna’s so-called mRNA vaccines.
This year there’s another slight difference in the formulations. The Pfizer and Moderna recipes are tailored to a virus subtype called KP.2. The Novavax formula targets its parent strain, called JN.1. The FDA considers both closely enough related to currently circulating strains to offer cross-protection.
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