Novavax’s updated Covid-19 vaccine, approved by the FDA

US regulators have approved a third updated Covid-19 vaccine for this fall, shots made by Novavax.

Al, Pfizer and Moderna are ship photos that have been adjusted to better reflect more recent variants of the ever-evolving coronavirus. These doses can be used in adults and children from 6 months of age.

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration also approved the updated Novavax formula — and those shots are open to anyone 12 and older.

Although most Americans have some degree of immunity from previous infections or vaccinations or both, that protection is waning. Despite this summer waveThe winter surges of Covid-19 tend to be worse, and health officials are urging Americans to get one of the vaccine options this fall.

Novavax makes a protein-based vaccine mixed with an immune booster, a different technology than the so-called mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

This year there is a small difference in the formulations. Pfizer and Moderna’s prescriptions are tailored to a virus subtype called KP.2. The Novavax formula focuses on the parent strain, called JN.1. The FDA believes that both are closely enough related to the currently circulating strains to provide cross-protection.

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