On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) recommended updating this year’s COVID-19 vaccines to target the emerging XFG variant. The panel voted 8-1 in favor of the recommendation, with one member abstaining.
The XFG variant—also known as “stratus”—has been identified in wastewater surveillance data as a fast-growing strain that may evade immunity from prior infection or vaccination. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent update (a month old), XFG strains accounted for more than half of U.S. cases over the four weeks ending April 11.
Anna Durbin, a VRBPAC member, emphasized the lack of current data: “We can’t make a recommendation if we don’t have data, and that’s one of my great concerns,” she said. Durbin called for strengthening real-time surveillance infrastructure and suggested the committee consider holding meetings more frequently than annually.
The committee noted that new data remains unavailable due to low sequencing submissions from laboratories. Additionally, disease surveillance efforts have been scaled back as part of funding cuts, though Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has not altered the structure of the advisory panel itself.
This recommendation is intended to help vaccine manufacturers prepare for the upcoming fall and winter seasons when COVID-19 infections typically rise. The meeting marked the first advisory panel session since FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned; his departure did not impact the timing or content of the discussion.
Moreover, the CDC’s advisory panel recently voted to drop recommendations for childhood vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine, and that decision has been temporarily stayed by a court.
