Although Covid cases remain low in the U.S., vaccine experts are already looking toward the winter, with eyes on preventing a seasonal surge. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Wednesday unanimously recommended that the Covid vaccines for the fall be updated to target the highly contagious JN.1 variant or one of its descendants. JN.1 emerged in the U.S. in late August and by January became the dominant strain in circulation. Various offshoots of JN.
The FDA is expected to make a final decision soon on which strain it will advise drugmakers to target. That will kickstart production of the updated shots, which will be distributed as part of a fall vaccination campaign. Pfizer said Wednesday it can have updated Covid shots available “immediately upon approval” from the FDA; Moderna said it can have shots available to distribute as early as mid-August. Novavax said it’s on track to have an updated vaccine that targets JN.1 available in August.