New COVID-19 vaccines are expected to hit the market in the coming months – and they are expected to target different variants.
The first updated shots are expected to be available in the US in August or September, and experts say they will likely arrive in Australia by the end of this year.
But the situation could be a little different compared to recent years.
The new COVID-19 vaccines
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first asked vaccine makers to target after its independent advisers met in early June.
But later that month, he changed his recommendation and asked them to target the KP.2 variant instead – which .
Moderna and Pfizer are producing mRNA COVID-19 vaccines that can be developed more quickly than protein-based versions made by companies like Novavax.
Novavax had already started manufacturing its while Moderna and Pfizer said they would be able to deliver the KP.2 vaccines.
This means there could be a situation where vaccines targeting two different variants become available.
When will Australians receive vaccines?
In 2023, the FDA recommended in June that vaccine manufacturers develop a monovalent vaccine targeting . The first vaccines were rolled out in the United States in September.
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) will need to assess and approve vaccinations after receiving an application from the manufacturer. Australia’s Immunization Technical Advisory Group will then provide administration guidelines once vaccines are given the green light.
Professor Adrian Esterman, chair of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of South Australia, said Australians were likely to be offered one or both vaccines “by the end of the year”, once the TGA has approved them and they can be imported from abroad.
Australia is not currently manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines and has five agreements for their supply from overseas.
The Mater’s director of infectious diseases, Paul Griffin, hopes both vaccines will be approved by “the last quarter of this year, but could well be approved early in the new year”.
“We are lagging behind the countries that are doing it the fastest,” Griffin said.
Australians currently have access to COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, both of which target the XBB.1.5 variant, but the Novavax version never entered the market.
A note on the TGA website regarding Novavax’s XBB.1.5 vaccine states: “Application for full registration withdrawn by sponsor on 21 May 2024. This is a decision by the sponsor. »
How effective will the new vaccines be?
KP.3 is now the most common variant in Australia, according to the Victorian Government’s COVID-19 surveillance report released in late July.
Like KP.2, it is also one of the “FLiRT” variants and both are descended from JN.1.
“You will always benefit from very good protection, whatever the [vaccine] you did it,” Esterman said.
Griffin also said they would remain effective in helping protect against serious illness.
“Each successive change [in the virus] It reduces the effectiveness of the vaccine, relatively speaking,” he said. “But it certainly doesn’t make it redundant, doesn’t reduce it to zero. This simply means that the profit is simply not as high as if it were a perfect match. »
When it sought FDA authorization in June, Novavax said its vaccine showed broad, cross-neutralizing antibodies against several variants, including KP.2 and KP.3.
Before the FDA updated its guidance, Pfizer said its JN.1 or KP.2 targeted vaccine would provide better protection against a wide range of new variants. Moderna made similar remarks.
