US FDA suggests yearly doses of Covid-vaccine shots

• The US FDA wants to streamline the nation’s Covid-vaccine policy.
• The regulator suggests giving healthy persons one dose yearly.
• Some small children could also receive two doses annually.

In an effort to streamline the nation’s Covid-vaccine policy, the US FDA on Monday suggested giving healthy persons one dose of the most recent updated Covid-19 injection yearly, comparable to the influenza immunisation campaign.

The US Food and Drug Administration also requested that its panel of outside experts explore administering two doses of the Covid vaccine annually to some small children, elderly people, and people with weakened immune systems.

In briefing documents provided in advance of a meeting of its panel on Thursday, the regulator suggested the necessity for routine selection of variants for upgrading the vaccine, similar to how strains for flu vaccinations are altered annually.

The FDA thinks that annual immunisation schedules will help make vaccine deployment less difficult and result in fewer vaccine administration mistakes and higher vaccination coverage rates. After announcing its plan to revise last month, the agency’s proposal was in line with expectations.

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Additionally, the Biden administration has been preparing a booster vaccination programme each fall.

Currently, the majority of persons in the United States must receive the initial Covid vaccination in two doses, at least three to four weeks apart from one another, and then a booster dose a few months later.

Three shots are required for Pfizer’s recommended vaccine dosages for kids and adults, with the third shot being a bivalent shot administered around two months later.

If the panel approves the proposal, all doses of the Covid vaccine, not only boosters, would be administered using the bivalent vaccines produced by Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N) and Moderna Inc. (MRNA.O), which target both the Omicron and the original variations.

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