FDA Calls for Fall COVID Boosters , To Target Omicron Subvariants.<br />NBC News reports that on June 30, <br />the Food and Drug Administration asked vaccine makers to modify upcoming booster shots to target subvariants of Omicron.<br />The Omicron subvariants the agency wishes to target are BA.4 and BA.5.<br />Officials have called on vaccine makers Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to produce bivalent vaccines, .<br />which are intended to target the original strain of COVID-19 as well as its subvariants.<br />As we move into the fall <br />and winter, it is critical that <br />we have safe and effective vaccine boosters that can <br />provide protection... , Dr. Peter Marks, FDA, via NBC News.<br />... against circulating <br />and emerging variants to prevent the most severe consequences of COVID-19. , Dr. Peter Marks, FDA, via NBC News.<br />As of the week ending June 25, Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 were responsible for 52% of all new cases of COVID-19.<br />Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BA.1, the first variant of <br />Omicron, caused 0% of new cases.<br />Pfizer and Moderna have thus far <br />altered vaccines to target the <br />original strain of COVID-19 and BA.1.<br />which increased the immune response to earlier iterations, though both have waned in their efficacy against BA.4 and BA.5
