January 24, 2023 – Is switching to an annual COVID-19 vaccination a sensible move? The FDA, the suggested Monday's amendment said annual vaccination, in comparison with regular booster shots, could simplify the method to make sure more people remain vaccinated and protected against severe COVID-19 infection.
A national advisory committee plans to vote on the suggestion on Thursday.
If this proposal is adopted, the vaccine formula could be decided every June, and Americans could start receiving the annual COVID-19 Vaccination in the autumn, like your annual flu shot.
Keep in mind: Older Americans and folks with weakened immune systems may have multiple dose of the annual COVID-19 vaccine.
Most Americans aren’t up to this point with their COVID-19 booster shots. Only 15% of Americans have received the last booster dose, while a whopping nine in 10 Americans ages 12 and older have accomplished their primary vaccinations. The FDA says in briefing documents for Thursday's meeting that problems with administering vaccines to people make this transformation price considering.
“Given this complexity and the available data, a move to a single vaccine composition for primary and booster vaccinations should be considered,” the agency said in a statement.
An annual Covid-19 vaccination might be simpler, but would it be as effective? WebMD asks health experts your most pressing questions about the proposal.
Advantages and disadvantages of an annual vaccination
An annual COVID-19 vaccination in addition to the flu shot could make it easier for doctors and health care providers to share vaccination recommendations and reminders, says Dr. Leana Wen, a professor of public health at George Washington University and former Baltimore health commissioner.
“It could be easier [for primary care doctors and other health care providers] “We want to encourage our patients to get vaccinated once a year rather than counting booster shots or giving people two separate shots,” she says.
“Employers, nursing homes and other facilities could offer the two vaccinations together, and perhaps even a combined vaccination would be possible in the future.”
Although it's more convenient, not everyone seems to be keen on the thought of an annual COVID vaccination. COVID-19 doesn't behave just like the flu, says Eric Topol, MD, editor-in-chief of Medscape, WebMD's sister site for healthcare professionals.
Attempting to mimic a flu shot and supply a 12 months of protection with a single COVID-19 immunization “is not based on science,” he says.
Carlos del Rio, MD, of Emory University in Atlanta and president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, agrees.
“We would like to see something simple and similar to the flu. But I also think we need to be guided by the science, and I think the science is not necessarily able to do that right now. I'm excited to see what the VRBAC advisory committee debates on Thursday. Based on the information I've seen and the data we have, I'm not convinced that this strategy makes sense,” he says.
“One thing we've learned from this virus is that it often throws us into the unknown, and when we make a decision, something changes. So I think we should continue to research, stick to the science, and make decisions based on science, not based on what's most convenient.”
COVID-19 isn’t seasonal just like the flu
“The flu is very seasonal and you can predict the months when it will hit here,” Topol says. “And as everyone knows, COVID is a year-round problem.” He says it's less about a selected time of 12 months and more about times when individuals are more more likely to be indoors.
So far, European authorities aren’t considering an annual vaccination plan against COVID-19, says Dr. Annelies Zinkernagel of the University of Zurich and President of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
Regarding seasonality, she says, “What we do know is that indoors, both in the US and Europe, there can be more crowds. And whether you spend more time indoors or outdoors definitely makes a big difference.”
Which variant(s) would it not goal?
For example, to determine which variants an annual COVID-19 vaccine should combat, Wen said, the FDA could use the identical process used for the flu vaccine.
“At the beginning of the flu season, you can only guess which flu strains will predominate,” she says.
“We cannot predict what variants of COVID might emerge in the future, but the hope is that a booster shot will provide broad protection against a wide range of possible variants.”
Topol agrees that it’s difficult to make predictions. A future with “new virus variants, perhaps a whole new family beyond omicron, is uncertain.”
Reading the FDA briefing document “For me, that was depressing, and basically it's just a repeat. There's no ambition to do bold things,” says Topol. “I would much rather see an aggressive promotion of next-generation vaccines and nasal vaccines.”
To make sure the longest possible protection, “annual vaccination should target the currently predominant strains in circulation, without a long delay before booster administration,” says Dr. Jeffrey Townsend, professor of biostatistics, ecology and evolutionary biology on the Yale School of Public Health.
“Just like the flu shot, the vaccine may be less useful in some years and more useful in other years,” he says, depending on how the virus changes over time and which strain or strains the vaccine targets. “On average, annually updated booster shots should provide the protection predicted by our analysis.”
Townsend and colleagues published a Forecast study on 5 January in Journal of Medical VirologyThey are each Moderna and Pfizer's vaccines and the way much protection they would supply over a six-year period, based on the belief that folks could be vaccinated every six months, every 12 months, or with longer periods between shots.
They report that an annual booster with the Moderna vaccine would supply 75% protection against infection, and an annual Pfizer shot would supply 69%. These predictions take note of recent variants that emerge over time, Townsend says, based on the behavior of other coronaviruses.
“These percentages of preventing infection may seem high given the last two years of the pandemic and the massive waves of infection we have experienced,” he says. “Remember, we are estimating the ultimate endemic risk for the future, not the pandemic risk.”