A more harmonized formula and schedule for administering COVID-19 vaccines gained strong support from FDA’s expert advisory panel last week, with agreement on the need to reduce confusion over which shot to take and when in order to increase vaccination rates among both adults and children in the United States. The 21 members of FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBAC) voted unanimously for a more simplified approach, setting the stage for the agency to authorize a common bivalent shot for all patients that targets both the original COVID-19 strain and the Omicron subvariants. The new program would end use of Pfizer and Moderna monovalent vaccines that only target the original COVID strain.
