US Suggests Once-a-Year COVID Shots for Americans
Health officials in the US want to make COVID-19 vaccinations more like the annual flu shot.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed a simpler approach for future vaccination efforts, allowing most adults and children to get a once-a-year shot to protect against the ever-changing virus.
This means Americans would no longer have to record how many shots they've received or how many months it's been since their last booster.
This comes at a time when many in the US have not been lining up for the boosters that were authorized in August. While more than 80% of the US population has had at least one vaccine dose, only 16% of those eligible have received the latest boosters.
But in documents posted online, FDA scientists say that many Americans now have enough immunity against the coronavirus because of vaccination, infection or a combination of the two.
That should be enough to move to an annual booster against the latest strains, according to the FDA.
For adults with weaker immune systems and for very small children, a two-dose combination may be needed for protection. FDA scientists and vaccine companies would study vaccination, infection rates and other data to decide who should receive a single shot and who should get two.
Under the FDA's proposal, the agency, independent experts and manufacturers would decide annually on which strains to target by the early summer, allowing several months to produce updated shots before the autumn. That's similar to the approach that has been used to select the strains for the annual flu shot.
FDA officials say moving to an annual schedule would make it easier to promote future vaccination campaigns, which could improve vaccination rates.
The original two-dose COVID shots have offered strong protection against severe disease and death no matter the variant, but protection against mild infection decreases in time. Experts continue to debate whether the latest boosters significantly improve protection, particularly for younger, healthy Americans.
