On June 7, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers develop next-generation vaccines for the Fall 2024 campaign, targeting the JN.1 variant that spread widely earlier this year. This is similar to recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Union.
The FDA released this information after its advisors suggested that the new vaccine should target the JN.1 variant rather than the newer KP.2 variant. The advisors stated that JN.1 is the only variant that Novavax – one of the vaccine manufacturers – claims its vaccine will be able to protect against. Novavax plans to commercially distribute its JN.1-targeted vaccine in the U.S. market this coming September.
On June 7, Moderna announced that it had submitted an application to the FDA for approval of its vaccine targeting the JN.1 variant. Moderna expects to receive approval in August, while Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said they would be ready to supply the new vaccines as soon as they receive approval.
According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, JN.1 was the dominant variant in the US earlier this year, but is no longer widespread. It is estimated that this variant caused 3.1% of COVID-19 cases in the US during the two weeks from May 26th to June 8th. Meanwhile, the KP.2 variant caused approximately 22.5% of cases, and the KP.3 variant is now dominant with 25% of cases.
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