FDA Advisers Recommend Updating COVID Vaccines for Fall Boosters with Latest Omicron Strain Targeting.

The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee has recommended updating Covid vaccines to target a circulating XBB strain of the virus, dropping the original coronavirus strain from the formulation. The committee did not make a formal recommendation on which specific XBB lineage the updated boosters should target, nor did it make a recommendation on who should get the shots and when. The recommendation will now be handed off to the FDA, which is expected to make a final decision soon on which Covid strain to target. Drugmakers need enough time to produce and distribute the new shots, which are expected to be used as early as September as part of a fall booster campaign.