In a unanimous 16-0 vote, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) vaccine advisory committee today recommended a monovalent JN.1-lineage vaccine composition for 2024-2025 Formula for COVID-19 vaccines.
The JN.1 variant has been most dominant this year, Reuters reported.
Last year, the agency’s committee recommended COVID-19 vaccines targeting XBB.1.5, a subvariant of Omicron that dominated the U.S. from November 2021 to 2022.
The committee today also discussed which specific strains within the JN.1-lineage group — such as subvariants KP.2 and KP.3 — the vaccines should target. The FDA said it will later issue an official recommendation to manufacturers about what subvariants it wants to target within the JN.1-lineage group.
David Wiseman, Ph.D., a bioscience researcher, told the committee that in recommending continued COVID-19 vaccination, the FDA may be putting the U.S. public’s health at risk. “Based on the totality of evidence, it is reasonable to believe that the product [COVID-19 vaccines] may be unsafe,” he said.
Hellbound and Down 