CDC votes on new Omicron COVID-19 booster shot

New COVID-19 boosters that target today's most common omicron strains are set to begin soon after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed the updated shots Thursday. The decision by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky came shortly after the agency's advisers said if enough people roll up their sleeves, the shots could blunt a winter surge. “They can help restore protection that has waned since previous vaccination and were designed to provide broader protection,” she said in a statement. The tweaked shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna offer Americans a chance to get the most up-to-date protection at yet another critical period in the pandemic. They’re combination or “bivalent” shots — half the original vaccine and half protection against the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron versions now causing nearly all COVID-19 infections. The CDC's advisers struggled with who should get the new booster and when because only a similarly tweaked vaccine, not the exact recipe, has been studied in people so far. But ultimately the panel deemed it the best option considering the U.S. still is experiencing tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases and about 500 deaths every day — even before an expected new winter wave. “I think they’re going to be an effective tool for disease prevention this fall and into the winter,” said CDC adviser Dr. Matthew Daley of Kaiser Permanente Colorado. READ MORE: https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/nat...