FILE – A sign in front of the Food and Drug Administration building is seen on Dec. 10, 2020, in Silver Spring, Md. Expedited drug approvals slowed in…

FILE – A sign in front of the Food and Drug Administration building is seen on Dec. 10, 2020, in Silver Spring, Md. Expedited drug approvals slowed in 2022, as the FDA’s controversial accelerated pathway came under new scrutiny from Congress, government watchdogs and some of the agency’s own leaders. With less than a month remaining in the year, the agency’s drug center has granted 10 accelerated approvals — fewer than the tally in each of the last five years, when use of the program reached all-time highs. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Local News

FDA pushes to change how Americans are vaccinated

by: Andrew Owodunni

Posted: Jan 27, 2023 / 08:43 AM CST

Updated: Jan 27, 2023 / 08:43 AM CST

FILE – A sign in front of the Food and Drug Administration building is seen on Dec. 10, 2020, in Silver Spring, Md. Expedited drug approvals slowed in…

by: Andrew Owodunni

Posted: Jan 27, 2023 / 08:43 AM CST

Updated: Jan 27, 2023 / 08:43 AM CST

Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – The Food and Drug Administration is recommending a change in how Americans are vaccinated against COVID-19. The agency is recommending replacing the original COVID vaccine with bivalent omicron shots for all doses.

The bivalent COVID vaccines include a component of the original virus strain and a component of the omicron variant. All twenty-one members of the FDA committee gave their approval to the recommendation, which is intended to simplify the united states’ covid vaccination program.

Right now, Pfizer’s and Moderna’s omicron shots are only authorized for use as a booster. The first two doses a person gets are still the companies’ old shots based on the original COVID strain.

The recommendation to adopt a single formulation across all doses comes at a time when the FDA is trying to make the system easier for both the public and healthcare workers to understand.