A committee of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously on a proposal to simplify the nation’s strategy for vaccinating people against COVID-19. The recommendation is that future COVID-19 vaccines should be interchangeable: no matter whether you’re getting your first dose or a booster, the vaccines would all have the same formulation targeting the same viral strain or strains, regardless of the manufacturer. The vote was unanimous: 21-0.
In addition, the committee considered (but didn’t vote on) proposals to have an annual COVID vaccination schedule, much like the U.S. has for the flu. If this happens, most people would be advised to get just one shot every fall with a new vaccine that’s probably been re-jiggered to try to match whatever variant is predicted to be spreading each winter. This would mean Americans would no longer need to keep track of how many shots they’ve already gotten or when.
The idea behind the revamp is to make vaccination less complicated and confusing. The ultimate goal would be to get more people vaccinated. “Because of [the coronavirus’] rapid evolution we’ve needed to adjust our approach over time, and we’re now in a reasonable place to reflect on the development of the COVID-19 vaccines to date to see if we can simplify the approach to vaccination,” said Dr. Peter Marks, FDA’s top vaccine official, in remarks at the beginning of the all-day meeting.