The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Covid strain selection for the next round of shots puts Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax on track to deliver new jabs in time for the fall – a decisive win for the vaccine makers as they gear up to compete against one another.
The FDA on Friday advised the three companies to manufacture single-strain jabs targeting the omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, one of the most immune-evasive Covid variants to date.
That strain accounted for nearly 40% of all Covid cases in the U.S. in early June, but that proportion is slowly declining, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But facing pressure to deliver new shots by the fall, Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax began development on versions of their vaccines targeting XBB.1.5 months before the FDA’s decision. Preliminary data those companies presented last week indicates that their jabs produce strong immune responses against all XBB variants.
The FDA’s strain selection means that the companies won’t have to scramble to manufacture shots targeting an entirely different strain, which would delay the timing of delivery.
Pfizer said on Thursday it will be able to deliver a shot targeting XBB.1.5 by July. Moderna and Novavax did not provide specific timelines for their versions.
Still, the FDA’s decision means that all three companies will likely deliver their updated jabs on time.
Shots targeting XBB.1.5 seem “the most feasible to get across the finish line early without resulting in delays in availability,” Dr. Melinda Wharton, a senior official at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said at an FDA advisory committee meeting on Thursday.
The U.S. is expected to shift Covid vaccine distribution to the private sector as soon as the fall, when the federal government’s supply of free shots is expected to run out. Manufacturers will sell their updated jabs directly to health-care providers rather than to the government.
That doesn’t include Johnson & Johnson, a once-leading Covid vaccine developer. The company’s shots are no longer available in the U.S. after reports of rare but serious blood-clotting side effects.