Pfizer sees Covid shots targeting XBB.1.5 strain as soon as JulyInc. said it’s capable of making shots targeting Covid-19’s XBB.1.5 strain by the end of July if government regulators recommend it, while another version under consideration would take longer.
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech SE would need until August to deliver a vaccine targeting the other strain, called XBB.1.16, Kena Swanson, Pfizer’s vice president for viral vaccines, said Thursday at a meeting of US Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisers. The panel of outside experts is gathering to vote on a recommendation for formulating Covid vaccines to be distributed later this year.
The vaccines have been designed to fight the original strain that was first seen in Wuhan, China. However, the latest data suggest that shots targeting a single strain of XBB, a version of the highly infectious omicron variant, would be most effective, according Pfizer’s company’s presentation.
A World Health Organization panel recommended in May that vaccine makers target shots at the XBB.1 family of strains. Moderna Inc., also presenting at the meeting, said it could supply a new vaccine for later this year.
A shot targeting XBB.1.5 could be ready for rollout in the fall, Novavax said, but if the FDA recommends a different formulation, production may be delayed. Vaccines targeting XBB.1.16, for example, likely wouldn’t be ready for an additional eight weeks, Filip Dubovsky, the company’s president of research and development, said at the meeting.
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Updated: 16 Jun 2023, 06:07 AM IST
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