FDA Panel Recommends a Covid Vaccine Aimed at Only the XBB Variant

FDA Panel Recommends a Covid Vaccine Aimed at Only the XBB Variant

An F.D.A. advisory panel told manufacturers to aim the latest coronavirus vaccine for the fall at the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant.

Vaccine makers should target the XBB variant of the coronavirus in a shot to be available in the fall, moving away from the existing formula that protected against the Omicron variant and an early form of the virus, an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration agreed on Thursday.

The 21-member panel unanimously recommended that manufacturers should aim at the most dominant variant of the coronavirus this summer. If the F.D.A. agrees, the advice would start the manufacturing of millions of shots.

Agency officials had earlier said they hoped to move toward an annual vaccine against the coronavirus. But the discussion on Thursday did not involve any timetables as to how often adults should receive new shots, or which populations should be offered the latest vaccine, though the initial advice last fall was for those age 12 and older to get the shot.