COVID-19 Vaccine Composition, Dosing Schedules on Agenda for FDA Meeting

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will be holding a meeting on January 26, 2023 to discuss future vaccination strategies for COVID-19.

The committee will consist of independent experts, as well as representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. In addition to addressing the state of the pandemic and the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants, the panel will discuss potential modifications to the composition of the primary doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and the optimal schedule for booster vaccination. Based on the information presented at the meeting, the FDA will make a decision on the best course of action regarding adjustments to current authorizations and approvals.

Following a previous VRBPAC meeting in June, the FDA had advised manufacturers to include a SARS-CoV-2 Omicron component in the COVID-19 booster. At the time, available data did not support changing the composition of the primary series; however, this will be considered in the upcoming meeting.

“We are hopeful this upcoming discussion will provide us with the optimal path forward for COVID-19 vaccines, helping to ensure that the public remains best protected from evolving virus variants,” said Peter Marks, MD, PhD, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

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