Bivalent Vax Protected Kids From Symptomatic COVID
During the 2022-2023 respiratory season, the bivalent COVID vaccines had an effectiveness of 54% against infection and 49% against symptomatic COVID in children and adolescents ages 5 to 17 years, a new study in JAMA showed. In this interview, Melissa Briggs Hagen, MD, MPH, of the CDC’s Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division, discusses the […]
FDA Allows Extra Doses of Bivalent COVID Vax for Immunocompromised Tots
The FDA has authorized additional doses of Pfizer/BioNTech’s bivalent COVID-19 vaccine for young immunocompromised children, the agency announced on Friday. In kids ages 6 months to 4 years with certain types of immunocompromising conditions (i.e., solid-organ transplant recipients, or those considered to have a similar level of immunocompromise), and who previously received three primary 0.2-mL […]
Opinion | Should Future COVID Boosters Include the Ancestral Strain?
The current COVID-19 mRNA vaccine boosters are bivalent, meaning they contain equal amounts of spike protein mRNA for the original Wuhan virus sequence and for the BA.4/5 Omicron variants that emerged in mid-2022. How well does this type of bivalent booster perform? The question is relevant because FDA’s recent Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory […]
CDC: Bivalent COVID Vaccines Stop Illness From XBB.1.5
Currently authorized bivalent COVID-19 boosters demonstrated similar protection against symptomatic illness from the XBB/XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariants as from BA.5-related subvariants, according to a CDC study. From December 2022 to January 2023, the bivalent boosters’ vaccine effectiveness (VE) against symptomatic infection was a similar 48% versus XBB/XBB.1.5-related strains and 52% versus BA.5-related sublineages, reported Ruth Link-Gelles, […]
CDC, FDA Flag Early Signal of Stroke Risk With Bivalent COVID Vaccine
An early signal of stroke risk was detected in older adults who received Pfizer-BioNTech’s bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, the FDA and CDC announced in a joint statement late on Friday, yet the agencies found no link in further analyses and are not recommending a change in COVID-19 vaccination practice. According to the agencies, incidence of ischemic […]
RSV Vaccine Holds Promise for Pregnant Women
A bivalent protein-based vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) administered during pregnancy was safe and led to higher neutralizing antibody responses in mothers, as well as evidence of protection in their infants, an interim analysis of a phase IIb trial found. The geometric mean ratios of 50% neutralizing antibody titers against RSV A and B […]