Washington — The new COVID-19 vaccine that received final approval last week marks a new phase in the fight against the disease, the Biden administration’s top health official said at a news briefing on Tuesday.
The COVID-19 vaccine, originally released in late 2020, has now been updated to target strains BA.4 and BA.5 of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus that dominated this year.
“For most Americans, we are moving to a point where an annual COVID vaccination should provide a high degree of protection against severe disease year-round,” said Dr. Ash Jha, coordinator of the White House Pandemic Response Team. Jha called the new vaccine an “important milestone,” although he warned that “different curveballs” could dash hopes of boosting immunity.
“For the first time since December 2020, these vaccines — our vaccines — have caught up with the virus,” Jha said. He noted that the United States was the first country to develop an omiclon-specific vaccine. He added that the Biden administration was coordinating with states and municipalities to distribute vaccines in “tens of thousands” of locations in the coming days.
As with earlier COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the inoculations will be free. Everyone over the age of 12 is eligible.
Added Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president’s chief epidemiologist, “We may be on our way to a vaccination pace similar to that of the annual flu vaccine.” In the coming months, pharmacies are expected to offer both COVID and flu vaccines, hoping to avoid “double infections” caused by the simultaneous spread of two respiratory viruses.
“I really believe that’s why God gave us two arms,” Jha quipped, “one for the flu vaccine and the other for the novel coronavirus vaccine.”
The development of new vaccines against currently circulating strains is an implicit bet that the virus will continue to evolve along Omicron’s path, rather than in some new and unpredictable direction.
“Get the latest COVID-19 as soon as you are eligible,” Fauci said. He reminded people that vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective.
If the virus experienced only what Fauci called a “slight drift” of BA.5, the bivalent vaccine should be able to recognize the difference. But Fauci warned that the pathogen originally known as SARS-CoV-2 could evolve in ways that render existing vaccines ineffective. Fauci has been fighting infectious diseases for 40 years.
“If that happens, all bets are off and we will make a change,” Fauci said.
Jha says the goal is to develop vaccines that do not require constant updating. “We need to have anti-mutation vaccines, we have mucosal vaccines. We need to fight this virus for a long time, “he said.
For months, the Biden administration has been asking Congress for additional funding to develop new vaccines and ensure pandemic preparedness. The requests did not succeed in Congress.