Over a year after the US authorized its first vaccines, COVID cases continue to pile up, leaving many vaccinated people wondering: Do I need a vaccine upgrade? People who are fully vaccinated and boosted have been testing positive in huge numbers, particularly since the omicron-triggered wave started its relentless burn across the United States in December. Vaccines that once caused experts to declare COVID-19 a pandemic of the unvaccinated dont protect as well against illness, even as they continued to protect against the most severe disease. Breakthrough infections are so common that the near-miraculous protection the vaccine promised a year ago feels very far away.
Part of the problem is that the virus that the vaccines target the first version of the coronavirus that started spreading in early 2020 doesnt exist anymore. Now, regulators, researchers, and vaccine companies are turning to the next phase of the vaccine development process: finding a way to protect against the virus thats spreading now and finding a way to protect people against future variations of the virus.
On June 28th, an FDA committee will meet to discuss whether and how future booster doses of vaccines might specifically target emerging variants of the virus. Like the seasonal flu shot, the next vaccines may at some point protect against whatever version of the virus is going to be circulating in a particular year. At the same time, other scientists are looking into ways of making the protection from any booster shot last longer. Longer-term, COVID-19 vaccines might be very different from current shots, using different technology and protecting against viruses that dont even exist yet. Some might not be shots but nasal sprays, which might be able to prevent even mild infections.
Preventing severe disease was the original goal, and I understand that. At the beginning of the pandemic, that made sense, said Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology at Yale University School of Medicine. But now we understand the virus better and the fact that the variants are here I think we need to shift our thinking.
The first step for the future of COVID-19 vaccines is to play catch-up with the recent past. After over two years, the version of the virus that was first detected in Wuhan, China, has been replaced by its more contagious and immune-evading variants. Several vaccine manufacturers have already started testing vaccines tailored to the omicron variant. An early analysis of Modernas omicron-specific shot showed that it generated more antibodies against the omicron virus than the original vaccine, the company announced earlier this month. The vaccine is bivalent its made to protect against both the original flavor coronavirus and omicron.
Moderna says its booster may be available by late summer in some markets, wrote Elise Meyer, senior director of communications at Moderna, in an email to The Verge.
Pfizer and BioNTech are also running a clinical trial to update their shots against omicron, examining standard booster shots of the original vaccine, a version targeting only omicron, and a bivalent shot like Modernas. At a press briefing in April, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said an omicron shot might be available in the fall.
Novavax, whose vaccine might be approved soon in the US, is working on its own omicron booster. Its clinical trial testing both omicron-targeted shot and a bivalent vaccine started on May 31st. The vaccine, which has been under review by the FDA since January, seems to have less severe side effects than the other vaccines, making it potentially ideal to use as a non-disruptive booster.
But its still unclear if the omicron shots will work much better than the original vaccine against omicron and other variants. In one study on mice, the original vaccine actually worked quite well, at least in the short-term, said Larissa Thackray, an associate professor of infectious disease at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
If omicron-specific vaccines dont have a major benefit over the existing vaccines, they could be a hard sell to be authorized by the FDA. Yet despite the uncertainty, Thackray said she thinks an omicron booster is overdue. A vaccine targeting a current or at least recent variant makes more sense than one targeting a much different virus the original strain of SARS-CoV-2, which doesnt exist anymore.
At some point, omicron might not be circulating anymore either. Its already evolved into several sublineages, and the virus will only keep evolving. Figuring out a way to continuously update the shots is one way to keep on top of it. But other researchers are working on universal vaccines which could theoretically protect against any new form of the virus.
Vaccines like this take advantage of the immune systems ability to respond to the parts of viruses that stay the same as they evolve, said David Martinez, an immunologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an author of a 2021 study examining a proposed universal coronavirus vaccine.
Martinez and other researchers made their vaccine by combining genetic material from a handful of different coronaviruses. Their goal was to make a shot that could generate an immune response against current and future variants, as well as other coronaviruses that could cause another pandemic. Its still preliminary that particular universal vaccine has only been tested in animals but its a first step toward broad protection.
This kind of vaccine might still work even if the virus substantially changes, said Martinez. But it will be a long time before we know if this is true its likely that this kind of vaccine will take years for scientists to develop, test, and get approved, he said.
Universal vaccines arent the only next-gen products in development. Researchers are also working on vaccines that arent shots at all theyre nasal sprays.
Intranasal vaccines could protect against the virus right where it enters the body, said Iwasaki, the immunobiologist at Yale University School of Medicine.
It makes sense to establish immune defense right at these mucosal sites, she said, referring to the inside of the nose. It can prevent the infection of these tissues altogether. Without infection, people wouldnt transmit the virus, and theyd be protected from long COVID.
There is one intranasal vaccine given now FluMist but it uses a weak version of the live flu virus, which is not safe for immunocompromised people. Iwasaki and her colleagues are working on a strategy to get around that issue: using a nasal spray containing a version of the COVID-19 virus spike protein as a booster after an initial mRNA shot. Because its used as a booster, the spray doesnt need to contain a live virus to trigger a strong enough immune response immunity from the initial shot is enough to drive a strong response to the protein in the spray.
So far, the technique is experimental and only has been tested in mice. But Iwasaki co-founded a company, Xanadu Bio, to make these vaccines, though she says they are still raising money to start clinical trials and working on testing the vaccine in nonhuman primates. And Xanadu is far from the only one looking at nasal spray vaccines. There are more than a dozen clinical trials of intranasal vaccines already in progress in the US and globally.
There are still a lot of challenges ahead before the next set of COVID-19 vaccines are available to the public. Theres still a lot experts dont know about the current vaccines like why they lose their efficacy over time, regardless of new variants, says Deepta Bhattacharya, a professor of immunobiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He says it can be hard to know exactly what it is about a vaccine that makes it work well for a long time.
When youre comparing one vaccine to another, theres a lot of things that are different, he said. And so trying to extract which of those differences are really important is almost as much guesswork as it is science.
There are also practical limitations. The FDA meeting next week to discuss vaccinating against COVID-19 variants could have a big impact on the direction that future vaccine development will take. Funding, both for new research and to make shots available to people for free, will also probably be an issue. Unless Congress can agree on more pandemic funding, free future vaccines might be limited to only the most vulnerable people.
Despite everything, Bhattacharya is optimistic about the future of COVID-19 vaccines. Research seems to show that combining and refining the next-generation vaccine techniques like intranasal, vaccine-targeted, and universal vaccines could have great success, he said.
I think the science is there for sure to have better vaccines in the coming years, he said.
Read more here:
Where's the next generation of COVID-19 shots? - The Verge
- As 2024 Travel Hits Pre-Covid Levels, Here's When To Go To Europe - Forbes - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- Comparison of Impressions of COVID-19 Vaccinations Stratified by the Number of Vaccinations Among Japanese ... - Cureus - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health visits in primary care: an interrupted time series analysis from nine ... - The Lancet - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- Faith and rehab keep Southwick woman on path to recovery from COVID - MassLive.com - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- China to draw on Covid-19 experience to tackle future pandemics - theSun - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- Free COVID tests through USPS are ending todayhere's where to get tests online - Reviewed - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- Concern about COVID reaches record low across political spectrum: Survey - The Hill - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- He Had 217 Covid Shots Without Side Effects, Study Finds - The New York Times - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- A Man Got 217 COVID-19 Vaccines. Here's What Happened - TIME - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- German man vaccinated 217 times against covid with no ill effects - The Washington Post - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- Andrew Cuomo Faces House Subpoena Over Covid Deaths in Nursing Homes - The New York Times - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- It's been 4 years since COVID hit Michigan. For Long COVID patients, the pandemic isn't over. Michigan Advance - Michigan Advance - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- 4th Anniversary of the Covid-19 Pandemic - erienewsnow.com - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- Reflecting on 4 years of the COVID-19 pandemic and discussing what's to come - WBUR News - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- CDC shortens 5-day COVID isolation, updates guidance on masks and testing in new 2024 recommendations - CBS News - March 10th, 2024 [March 10th, 2024]
- Father, daughter convicted in fraud related to COVID-19 relief - The Cincinnati Enquirer - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Supreme Court to weigh whether Covid misinformation is protected speech - STAT - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Oklahoma leads country in long Covid - 2 News Oklahoma KJRH Tulsa - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- MCFR firefighter dies after battle with COVID-19 - WCJB - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Audio-based AI classifiers show no evidence of improved COVID-19 screening over simple symptoms checkers - Nature.com - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Hidden death toll of COVID-19 pandemic revealed - Earth.com - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Switching arms improves effectiveness of two-dose vaccinations, OHSU study suggests - OHSU News - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Tributes paid to Irish health official 'central' to EU Covid-19 response - The Irish Times - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Court: Not wearing mask during COVID-19 health emergency isn't protected speech - Honolulu Star-Advertiser - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- One arm or two? How you get vaccinated may make a difference - The Seattle Times - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- 70% of kindergarteners didn't pass readiness test in pandemic, study estimates - University of Minnesota Twin Cities - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- USS Theodore Roosevelt sailors roam free on Guam for first time since COVID-19 outbreak - Stars and Stripes - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Pandemic linked to 14% increase in underweight children in India - Medical Xpress - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- COVID and travel: Should I still wear a mask on the plane? - USA TODAY - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Vaccine hesitancy and equity: lessons learned from the past and how they affect the COVID-19 countermeasure in ... - Globalization and Health - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Increase in STIs Among Adolescents Witnessed During COVID-19 Pandemic - Drug Topics - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- VDH: COVID deaths not seeing decline - Vermont Biz - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- US outpatient care for serious mental health issues declined during COVID-19 - University of Minnesota Twin Cities - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- COVID-19 Vaccination in a Patient With Gluten Enteropathy: A Case Report - Cureus - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- COVID-19 cases drop, but still lots of flu, RSV cases in Erie County - GoErie.com - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Lives versus livelihoods: The COVID-19 trade-off from an epidemiological-economic perspective - CEPR - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Weatherhead's Jonathan Ernest notes economic changes of childcare facilities following COVID-19 pandemic - The Daily | Case Western Reserve University - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- U.S. adults face distress, unequal mental health care access during the COVID-19 era - News-Medical.Net - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Simnotrelvir to reduces the symptoms of mild to moderate COVID-19 - 2 Minute Medicine - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Vaccine Effectiveness: Which COVID-19 Shots Offer the Most Protection? - SciTechDaily - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- New evidence confirms COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy is safe for babies - Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Audit Committee co-chairs, Evers at odds over interest from COVID-19 funds - WisPolitics.com - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Evaluation of Olfactory Dysfunction Among COVID-19 Patients in Baghdad, Iraq - Cureus - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- COVID-19's impact on early education: Retrospective study shows decrease in kindergarten readiness - News-Medical.Net - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Rutgers researchers work on breakthrough COVID-19 treatment | Video - NJ Spotlight News - February 7th, 2024 [February 7th, 2024]
- Curious Iowa: Has the state spent all of its COVID-19 relief funding? - The Gazette - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Accelerating into Immunization Agenda 2030 with momentum from ... - Infectious Diseases of Poverty - BioMed Central - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Study Uncovers Why Young Children Suffer Less Severe COVID-19 - Technology Networks - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Wenstrup, Select Subcommittee Majority Members Investigate ... - House Committee on Oversight and Reform | - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- With COVID-19 emergency orders lifted, employers seek guidance ... - Hartford Business Journal - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Computer-aided diagnosis of chest X-ray for COVID-19 diagnosis in ... - Nature.com - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Maternal COVID-19 Vaccination, Infection Boosts Infant Antibody ... - Contagionlive.com - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Three Middlesex County Individuals Admit COVID-19 Fraud ... - Department of Justice - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Seventeen Broward Sheriff's Office Employees Charged with COVID ... - Department of Justice - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- New COVID-19 Booster and Flu Shot Available at Select Public ... - Mecklenburg County (.gov) - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Ban on COVID vaccine mandates by private businesses, including ... - The Texas Tribune - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- What Are the Side Effects of the 2023 COVID Vaccine? Experts ... - Good Housekeeping - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Covid inquiry: Bereaved families relief as High Court dismisses Cabinet Office JR - openDemocracy - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- UK health agency failed to account for 3.3bn of Covid inventory, say MPs - Financial Times - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- COVID-19 Working Paper: Obesity Prevalence Among U.S. Adult ... - usda.gov - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- California Changes Definition of COVID-19 Outbreak Easing the ... - Fisher Phillips - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- New Study Shows Robust Pandemic Preparedness Strongly Linked ... - Nuclear Threat Initiative - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- COVID-19 Infection Reduces the Risk of UTIs, Bacteremia, and ... - Contagionlive.com - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- Europe Phases Out COVID-19 Flexible Regulations - Pharmaceutical Technology Magazine - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- Travel Pains and COVID: How to Decide if You're Ready to Travel - CreakyJoints - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- COVID Depression and Anxiety | Johns Hopkins Medicine - April 17th, 2023 [April 17th, 2023]
- Man declared dead due to Covid found 'shockingly' alive after 2 years in MP - Hindustan Times - April 17th, 2023 [April 17th, 2023]
- Senate votes to end Covid-19 emergency, 3 years after initial declaration - CNN - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- DC COVID-19 centers closing Friday: Here's what you need to know - WJLA - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- Can grade retention help with COVID-19 learning recovery in schools? - Brookings Institution - March 28th, 2023 [March 28th, 2023]
- On 3-year anniversary of COVID-19 in NC, Winston-Salem woman shares story of loss and healing after losing 2 loved ones - WXII12 Winston-Salem - March 4th, 2023 [March 4th, 2023]
- Oregon, Washington will lift mask requirements in health care settings on April 3 - KATU - March 4th, 2023 [March 4th, 2023]
- WHO says all theories for COVID origin 'remain on table' as lab leak theory gains traction - Sky News - March 4th, 2023 [March 4th, 2023]
- New COVID-19 omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 sweeping the nation, making up majority of cases - ABC Action News Tampa Bay - February 15th, 2023 [February 15th, 2023]
- Man gets 21 years in prison for stabbing wife in the Ozarks over COVID-19 stimulus check and their children - Law & Crime - February 15th, 2023 [February 15th, 2023]
- Healthline: Medical information and health advice you can trust. - January 2nd, 2023 [January 2nd, 2023]
- China can expect repeat Covid infections with new strains on the way: experts - South China Morning Post - January 2nd, 2023 [January 2nd, 2023]
- PCR tests for travellers reintroduced around the world as Covid-19 cases surge - The National - January 2nd, 2023 [January 2nd, 2023]
- Covid-19 surge after Covid-19 surge has made it impossible for US hospitals to plan for the future - Vox.com - January 2nd, 2023 [January 2nd, 2023]
- COVID-19 in China: Demand for a particular fruit rises as people seek natural remedies to fight the virus - WION - December 21st, 2022 [December 21st, 2022]