We now have two new COVID-19 vaccines available for this year’s respiratory virus season, one from Pfizer and one from Moderna, which are expected to perform well against current variants. The FDA approved both vaccines this week, and the CDC recommended them for almost all Americans. A third option, from Novavax, may become available in the coming weeks as well.
Read MoreI received a couple of reader questions in recent weeks that I’d like to answer here, in the hopes that my responses will be more broadly helpful. The questions cover COVID-19’s incubation period (i.e. time between exposure and symptoms), vaccine effectiveness for this fall, and nasal sprays.
Read MoreSources and updates for the week of August 20 include a wastewater data toolkit, vaccine delays, budget cuts at the CDC, and more.
Read MoreThe CDC expects that our next round of COVID-19 booster shots will be available in early fall, likely late September or early October. But this limited information has been distributed not through formal reports or press releases—rather, through the new CDC director’s media appearances.
Read MoreThis past Thursday, the FDA’s advisory committee on vaccines and similar biological products met to discuss COVID-19 boosters for this fall. They voted in favor of updating the vaccines based on Omicron XBB, a variant lineage that has dominated both in the U.S. and globally this year.
Read MoreSources and updates for the week of May 7 include tracking Medicaid coverage, vaccine mandates, disparities in COVID-19 deaths, and more.
Read MoreSources and updates for the week of April 23 include a people’s review of the CDC, COVIDTests.gov usage, vaccine equity, and more.
Read MoreThis week, the FDA made some adjustments to the U.S.’s COVID-19 vaccine guidance in order to standardize all new mRNA shots to bivalent (or Omicron-specific) vaccines, and to allow adults at higher risk to receive additional boosters. The CDC’s vaccine advisory committee and Director Rochelle Walensky both endorsed these changes.
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This week, the White House announced that it’s setting up a $5 billion program, called Project Next Gen, to support next-generation COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Project Next Gen is a big step toward actually ending the pandemic, not just pretending it’s over. The federal government can support large-scale clinical trials and speed up regulatory approval in a way that no research group or company could. Still, the U.S.’s prior vaccine campaigns don’t inspire confidence that this project will lead to widespread adoption of new shots when they become available.
Read MoreSources and updates for the week of April 9 include Omicron boosters, federal Long COVID progress, ventilation improvements in K-12 schools, and more.
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