The CDC now estimates XBB sublineages comprise nearly 99% of circulating coronavirus in the U.S., displacing the BA.5 subvariant that dominated the nation for much of last year.
With an eye toward enhancing protection against the coronavirus, which is still evolving and circulating, federal health advisors said Thursday that the next round of COVID-19 vaccines should be updated to target the now-dominant XBB strains.
The unanimous recommendation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee follows that of agency staff, who in a memo acknowledged that while older vaccine formulas can still help stave off severe disease, “protection wanes with time and is reduced against subsequent waves of variant viruses.”
Data suggest using the latest dominant coronavirus strain that more closely matches current circulating Omicron sublineages “is warranted for the 2023-2024 vaccination campaign,” FDA staff added.
“I think that we need a better vaccine. We should be updating it, and I think it’s pretty straightforward,” said Dr. Eric Rubin, a committee member and infectious disease expert at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The committee’s recommendation will be reviewed by the FDA. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also is expected to weigh in on the matter, with its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices scheduled to discuss COVID-19 vaccines on June 23.
Virtually all versions of the coronavirus currently circulating in the U.S. are descendants of the original Omicron variant that walloped the nation in late 2021 and early 2022. But among those, the XBB family — which includes XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16, unofficially dubbed “Kraken” and “Arcturus,” respectively — is dominant almost to the point of monopoly.
According to the most recent estimates from the CDC, XBB sublineages comprise nearly 99% of circulating coronavirus in the U.
