Get your arms ready!
The Food and Drug Administration could approve a new COVID-19 booster shot within the coming days, offering new protections against the virus and two others.
The report of a potential three-in-one shot containing vaccines for COVID, RSV, and influenza comes from NBC News, which cited sources familiar with the agency’s decisions.
The shot would look to prepare Americans for the potential “tripledemic,” which could see all three viruses becoming prominent throughout the fall and winter months.
The timeline for potential authorization of the new shot could come as soon as this week, though the report didn’t specify when.
After the FDA gives its approval for the shot, the vaccine would go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its advisory committee, which will issue its own recommendations on who should get the shot.
Once the CDC and FDA both give their sign-offs and issue recommendations, the vaccinations could start immediately, giving new protection to those in areas where COVID cases are rising.
The current COVID booster shots and initial doses are formed as “bivalent” vaccines, offering protection against both the original strain of the virus and the Omicron variant.
The new monovalent vaccine will target the XBB.1.5 strain, which is currently the most dominant to hit the country, according to health officials.
Currently, the CDC recommends that anyone six months or older receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and those who are unvaccinated are urged to get a total of three doses of the approved shots within four weeks of each shot.
As for the new vaccine, both Pfizer and Moderna are manufacturing the shots, which are expected to be priced at $110 to $130 per dose, NBC News reported.
Whether and when someone will be able to get the needle in their arm depends on their health insurance, according to Jennifer Kates, the director of the Global Health & HIV Policy Program at KFF, who spoke with NBC News.
Kates said that most people with public and private health insurance should pay nothing out of pocket for the shots.