The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday released briefing documents for a key advisory meeting to be held on Thursday that show the agency wants to simplify the current COVID-19 vaccination strategy to be more like an annual flu shot.
The FDA’s proposal, as outlined in the documents, is to simplify COVID-19 vaccine composition and annual immunization schedules.
Currently, people first get two doses of the original COVID-19 vaccine spaced several weeks apart, followed a few months later by a bivalent booster tailored to protect against newer variants. The FDA’s proposal wants to change that.
Instead, the primary dose and booster would be combined into a single product for healthy adults, developed in spring based on prevailing strains and given once a year in the fall, much like is done with flu shots….