The Covid-19 virus gets auto updated quite frequently, but the sad story is the vaccines never got really updated. It was only the last July 28th an advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration met to discuss whether vaccine developers should update their jabs to include a portion of the omicron variant.
Finally on the 30th of June they announced that shots should be a dual mix that includes both a piece of the nearly identical omicron subvariants BA.4/BA.5 and the virus from the original vaccines.
It took them more than two years to arrive at this decision. even the previously crafted vaccines to tackle the beta variant were scrapped on the basis that the current vaccine was good enough.
But Omicron is way different, able to slip past the original vaccine protection, has lots of more viral mutations combined with our own waning immunity meant that omicron can gain a foothold in the body,
Of course with the boosters the vaccines could provide some protection against severe infections, but the older people still showed increased hospitalizations.
A switch to an Omicron -containing jabs may give people an extra layer of protection.
Pfizer presented data at the meeting showing that updated versions of its mRNA shot gave clinical trial participants a boost of antibodies that recognize omicron. One version included omicron alone, while the other is a bivalent, jab that mixes the original formulation with omicron.
Moderna’s bivalent shot boosted antibodies too. Novavax, which developed a protein-based vaccine that the FDA is still mulling whether to authorize for emergency use, doesn’t have an omicron-based vaccine yet, though the company said its original shot gives people broad protection, generating antibodies that probably will recognize omicron.
The problem again is that both Pfizer & Moderna updated using BA.1 but things have moved on since then to BA.5. Now the subvariants BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 are the dominant versions, the latter two accounting for most number of cases.
So the vaccines got o be updated for BA.4 and BA.5, but by the time that gets done, it's anybody's guess where the Covid-19 will mutate itself.
PS:
There are variant proof, Pan-Coronavirus vaccines but will take a long time to arrive. These will possibly never get the emergency authorizations.
To name a few of them -
Pan-Cornavirus - SpFN, RBD–scNP, GRT-R910, hAd5-S+N and an oral vaccine MigVax101
Pan-sarbecovirus vaccines - GBP511, Mosaic 8b, VBI-2901
Pan-BetaCornavirus vaccines - DIOS-CoVax
Also by Moderna mRNA-1287 (mRNA encoding antigens from four human-infecting coronaviruses that cause common colds)
Finally on the 30th of June they announced that shots should be a dual mix that includes both a piece of the nearly identical omicron subvariants BA.4/BA.5 and the virus from the original vaccines.
It took them more than two years to arrive at this decision. even the previously crafted vaccines to tackle the beta variant were scrapped on the basis that the current vaccine was good enough.
But Omicron is way different, able to slip past the original vaccine protection, has lots of more viral mutations combined with our own waning immunity meant that omicron can gain a foothold in the body,
Of course with the boosters the vaccines could provide some protection against severe infections, but the older people still showed increased hospitalizations.
A switch to an Omicron -containing jabs may give people an extra layer of protection.
Pfizer presented data at the meeting showing that updated versions of its mRNA shot gave clinical trial participants a boost of antibodies that recognize omicron. One version included omicron alone, while the other is a bivalent, jab that mixes the original formulation with omicron.
Moderna’s bivalent shot boosted antibodies too. Novavax, which developed a protein-based vaccine that the FDA is still mulling whether to authorize for emergency use, doesn’t have an omicron-based vaccine yet, though the company said its original shot gives people broad protection, generating antibodies that probably will recognize omicron.
The problem again is that both Pfizer & Moderna updated using BA.1 but things have moved on since then to BA.5. Now the subvariants BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 are the dominant versions, the latter two accounting for most number of cases.
So the vaccines got o be updated for BA.4 and BA.5, but by the time that gets done, it's anybody's guess where the Covid-19 will mutate itself.
PS:
There are variant proof, Pan-Coronavirus vaccines but will take a long time to arrive. These will possibly never get the emergency authorizations.
To name a few of them -
Pan-Cornavirus - SpFN, RBD–scNP, GRT-R910, hAd5-S+N and an oral vaccine MigVax101
Pan-sarbecovirus vaccines - GBP511, Mosaic 8b, VBI-2901
Pan-BetaCornavirus vaccines - DIOS-CoVax
Also by Moderna mRNA-1287 (mRNA encoding antigens from four human-infecting coronaviruses that cause common colds)
