TAMPA, Fla. — COVID-19 manufacturers are preparing for the fall booster now.
“I think primarily the vaccinations, are really doing their job. They’re really protecting people from getting really severely ill and dying,” said public health expert Dr. Thomas Unnasch.
That’s why federal officials are stepping in to ensure that the transition from the government’s vaccine distribution program to the commercial market is a smooth one this fall.
The U.S. Department of Health sent a letter last week to vaccine manufacturers about their expectations for this transition. It said the shots should be ready for the FDA and the CDC to make recommendations by the latter part of September.
Federal officials are also encouraging manufacturers to remain ready to support surges in demand for vaccines.
One of the biggest issues on the table is cost. The U.S. Department of Health is asking companies to price the shots at a reasonable rate and warn against price gouging.
In terms of the new shot, the FDA recommended last month that the vaccine manufacturers make a single-strain booster for this fall and winter to specifically target the current omicron subvariant XBB.1.5.
“They’re suggesting that the companies do away with the original version of the virus which no longer circulates around and replace it with a couple of the latest versions of the omicron variant that out there which are the main variants that are circling around now,” said Unnasch.
“Moderna and Pfizer said they’re ready to go. They’re going to do the modifications on the mRNA vaccines which will literally only take about a week or so. And they’re going to start rolling those things into production. So my guess is for the fall we’ll all be getting what I think is going to be the standard thing. Every year there’s going to be another variant that’s out there and they’ll modify this thing over the summer and we’ll get a shot to protect ourselves against the new variant,” he added.