VRBPAC recommends JN.1 target for fall COVID vaccines
After listening to the meeting I found it disheartening that the FDA, WHO, and all the participants involved realise they are behind the curve chasing this virus yet there was no discussion of bi-annual strain selection nor discussion of what Plan B would be if three months from now a new VOC was the current health threat leaving the JN.1 vax useless. The VRBPAC meeting was delayed because the FDA was literally watching dominant sub-variants fight for the pole position all within the course of months.
This decision is positive for NVAX insofar as NVAX is already manufacturing a JN.1 vaccine and it wouldn’t have been able to change strains in time for the 2024 fall vaccination season.
I listened to the latest NVAX call and came to realise the manufacturing and fill/finish for the 2024/25 U.S. vaccine in pre-filled syringes will be done by the Serum Institute of India. Not something the company is going out of the way to point out.