The United States Food and Drug Administration has a plan to find out what the COVID-19 vaccination campaign will look like this year and beyond, as the country emerges from the emergency phase of the pandemic.
Going forward, boosters and vaccines will likely work similarly to the annual rollout of flu shots, the FDA decided in late January. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also updated its vaccine schedule guidelines to include COVID-19 shots, also signaling a shift to a more routine series.
Although details have yet to be determined, the focus will remain on mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. A group of FDA advisers voted last month to approve replacing all vaccines currently on the market with bivalent vaccines modified to better neutralize omicron variants. This aims to simplify vaccines in general, so that everyone receives the same formula, whether it is their first vaccine or their fourth.
A final decision has yet to be made, however, and there are still many details that the FDA, CDC, and vaccine makers themselves need to iron out. Part of those considerations may include thinking about the latest booster recommendation for everyone to get the bivalent vaccine — the uptake of which has been “dismal,” according to Rupali J. Limaye, associate professor of international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
A more holistic approach to COVID-19 vaccines — with most people getting one shot per year and those at higher risk of disease getting two shots — is what the FDA is aiming for. But past public messaging issues, including a sometimes confusing recall recommendation that marked the early parts of the pandemic, are just some of the hurdles the FDA will need to overcome in this next phase.
“Public awareness, public acceptance – how do you simplify that for people?” Limaye told CNET after the FDA’s proposal was first published.
In addition to public health awareness, details of who will pay and how much they will pay for vaccines once the government no longer foots the bill have yet to be determined. Moderna’s CEO was called to testify at a Senate hearing in March by Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, after the vaccine company proposed a vaccine price hike.
Here’s what we know now about the future of COVID-19 vaccines.
Screenshot of a CDC presentation at the January FDA advisory meeting.
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
What’s happening with rising vaccine prices?
Moderna has been criticized for planning to raise the price of its vaccines to as much as $130, about four times the price the federal government is currently paying, once the public health emergency ends in May and the federal government will no longer cover the cost of all vaccines. The price per dose of Pfizer’s adult vaccine will also cost $110 to $130. However, Pfizer has not received the same money or federal assistance for its research, according to a CNN Fact Check. The taxpayer-funded element is Sanders’ main argument against Modernas’ price hike.
On February 15, the same day Sanders announced that the CEO of Moderna would testify before a Senate committee in March, the vaccine company announcement that his COVID vaccine will “always available free of charge” for people in the United States, whether or not they are insured. For the uninsured, Moderna has a patient assistance program that goes into effect this spring. Moderna did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
Pfizer also said earlier that it will have a patient assistance program to keep vaccines free for people without health insurance and that the company expects most people with insurance to continue paying nothing. out of their pocket.
However, details of the two vaccine companies’ assistance programs for the uninsured remain unclear, and insurance companies were likely to pay for the vaccines regardless of price changes. To learn more about health care after the COVID-19 public health emergency ends, read how salaries could be affected from this spring.
COVID vaccines will likely work like flu shots in the future, but nothing is definite
The FDA proposal is for COVID-19 vaccines to be rolled out each year in the same way as annual flu vaccines, where a strain is selected for optimal protection before the fall and winter season. This likely means the FDA and CDC will have more age-specific discussions and guidelines ahead of them if the FDA wants the next round of vaccines ready for September.
However, FDA advisers have not yet voted on the annual injections. And there is not full agreement on using the same vaccine route for COVID-19 and influenza.
“COVID is not influenza as an infection or a disease,” said Dr. Pamela McInnes, former director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health and a member of the FDA’s advisory board, during the consultative meeting.
Do I need another booster?
If you are an adult who is due for a booster but has not yet received one, you will still receive one of the mRNA vaccines currently on the market. No changes or new recommendations were made for booster doses. So if you were up to date on your shots last week, you are up to date this week.
Anyone 6 months and older can get vaccinated. Older adults in their 60s and older and younger adults with medical conditions are more likely to become seriously ill with COVID-19 and would particularly benefit from additional protection.
According to a presentation from the CDC. Children under 6 months are not eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19, but the majority of children under 5 are still unvaccinated despite being eligible, according to information shared at the meeting .
What about nasal vaccines?
Some scientists have pushed for further development of mucosal vaccines (including nasal vaccines), as new vaccine technologies may have the potential potential to offer better protection against infections against COVID-19. apart from one January meeting presentation by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases on Next-Generation Vaccines, which discussed the benefits of mucosal vaccines, the FDA plan does not appear to address new vaccine technologies.
Achieving this requires data sets supporting the use of these vaccines in the United States, which requires funding and demand. As the government moves away from paying for everyone’s vaccines, “there just isn’t as much incentive” to create and test new vaccines, including nasal and inhaled vaccines, Limaye said. .
“It’s going to be a bit difficult to bring a product like this to market, unfortunately,” she said.
The information in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute medical or health advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have about a medical condition or health goals.
