FDA advisers vote to simplify COVID vaccines, retire original "monovalent" shots

Key Facts

• January 26, 2023 / 4:44 PM / CBS News Future plans for COVID-19 vaccines FDA advisory panel considers simplifying COVID-19 vaccination schedule 05:05 A panel of the Food and Drug Administration's outside vaccine advisers voted unanimously Thursday in favor of "harmonizing" the initial shots given to unvaccinated Americans with the updated booster shots rolled out last year, in a bid to simplify COVID-19 vaccines.
• Once adopted by the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the change would effectively end use of the original "monovalent" shots that were developed initially in the pandemic, aimed at the original strain of the virus.
• The vote comes amid a daylong meeting wrestling over the future of how and whether to update COVID-19 vaccines for future seasons.
• "This is a consequential meeting to determine if we've reached a point in the pandemic that allows for simplifying the use of current COVID-19 vaccines, and if it is the moment to implement a more routine approach to periodically updating the strain composition," Dr. David Kaslow, director of the FDA's Office of Vaccines Research and Review, told the panel.

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