By September, the long-running XBB.1.5 accounted for only about 3% of cases in the U.S., but most of the strains circulating now are descended from (or closely related to) it. The new vaccine is monovalent, designed to prevent severe disease from the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant. It targeted the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants and the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. The bivalent booster, which is no longer available, was introduced in the fall of 2022. How is the updated COVID vaccine different from the previous one? In addition, the CDC recommends the vaccine for pregnant women to protect both mother and baby.Īn analysis by the CDC suggested that making its vaccine recommendation universal could prevent 400,000 hospitalizations and 40,000 deaths in the U.S. Immunocompromised people and those with chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease, are at the highest risk of severe disease and death, but some young, healthy people have also gotten very ill and died from COVID. Older people (especially those ages 50 and older) are more likely than younger people to get very sick from COVID. That figure includes more than 600 deaths in adolescents and children ages 19 and younger. According to the CDC, COVID is still a major cause of serious respiratory illness, with more than 200,000 reported deaths since January 2022. The updated vaccines are not expected to prevent all cases of COVID, including those causing mild illness rather, their aim is to reduce severe illness, hospitalization, and death from infection. ![]() Why would another COVID vaccination help? ![]() Ogbuagu says, adding that even healthy people can develop Long COVID-a condition in which new, continuing, or recurring (and sometimes debilitating) symptoms are present four or more weeks after an initial coronavirus infection.īelow, Yale experts tell you what you need to know about the updated COVID vaccine. “Infections can have long-term consequences,” Dr. While COVID-19 has been causing mostly mild illness recently, Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist Onyema Ogbuagu, MBBCh, reminds people that the disease can still lead to hospitalization and death. This includes EG.5, the dominant strain in the U.S., and BA.2.86, a new subvariant sparking concern because it has more than 30 mutations to its spike protein. The CDC said the updated vaccines should also work against currently circulating variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus-many of which descended from, or are related to, the XBB strain. ![]() The vaccines target XBB.1.5, a subvariant of Omicron that dominated the United States-and the world-from November 2021 until earlier this year. (In early October, they also authorized an updated Novavax vaccine for use in individuals 12 and older more on that below.) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved the updated vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna in mid-September. And unlike the spring booster that targeted people ages 60 and older, these updated vaccines are for everyone ages 6 months and older. The new shots are expected to keep more people from getting seriously ill with the virus through the winter, when infections and hospitalizations tend to tick upwards. There will be better protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 in the coming months now that newly updated (2023–2024 formula) mRNA COVID vaccines are available. Because information about COVID-19 changes rapidly, we encourage you to visit the websites of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and your state and local government for the latest information. Note: Information in this article was accurate at the time of original publication.
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