The Food and Drug Administration plans to greenlight updated versions of the COVID-19 booster as early as Friday, according to four people familiar with the agency’s plans.
The latest shots are designed to target the XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant. Though this particular strain is no longer dominant, the boosters should still provide protection against current circulating subvariants, which are closely related, the drugmakers and experts say.
The Friday timeline for authorization is not firm and could slide into early next week, two of the sources said.
That could prompt further criticism from some doctors who say that federal health agencies are acting too slowly in the booster rollout as COVID cases and hospitalizations are once again rising.
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Two sources who spoke to NBC News indicated the FDA is exploring the possibility of granting the boosters a full approval license instead of an emergency use authorization, a departure from the approach used for previous Covid vaccine authorizations. However, it remains uncertain whether this is still the intended course of action.
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