COVID-19 shots might be tweaked if variants get worse
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. But studies are raising concern that first-generation COVID-19 vaccines don’t work as well against a mutant that first emerged in South Africa as they do against other versions circulating around the world. “This is a moving target right now.” FLU OFFERS A MODEL The WHO and FDA are looking to the global flu vaccine system in deciding how to handle similar decisions about COVID-19 shots. THE REAL RED FLAG If fully immunized people start getting hospitalized with mutated virus, “that’s when the line gets crossed,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia vaccine expert who advises the FDA. Simply changing the recipe to better target virus mutations won’t require repeating those studies in thousands of people, Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s vaccine chief, recently told the American Medical Association.