The United States should replace most of its COVID-19 booster shots with updated versions that target the dominant omicron strains, an influential group of vaccine experts that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
In a vote of 13-1, the panel recommended that Americans ages 12 and up who have gone at least two months since their last shot roll up their sleeves for the reformulated boosters, which are engineered to combat the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants along with the original coronavirus that arrived in the U.S. in early 2020.
If CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky agrees with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the “bivalent” boosters could begin going into arms in a matter of days. She is expected to make a decision by the end of the week.
