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U.S. health authorities have urgently approved an improved vaccine that can respond to omicron mutations.
We have made it possible to receive a new vaccine in the first place, but only as a booster dose.
Correspondent Kim Jong-won from New York.
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Ahead of the fall season of the coronavirus, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and FDA have urgently approved an improved vaccine that can respond to omicron mutations called BA.4 and BA.5.
The vaccines approved this time are products that Pfizer and Moderne have updated their existing vaccines to respond to mutations.
[Analyssa Anderson/Pfizer Vaccine Director: The new vaccine is the same antigen as the existing vaccine, but it has been improved to respond to BA.4 and BA.5 that are currently in vogue.] Over
9 months after the occurrence of Omicron mutation, the existing vaccine
This is the first time that the United States, which has responded only with a vaccine, has approved an improved vaccine that is also effective against mutations.
U.S. health officials have emphasized that there are no safety concerns.
[Rochelle Wallenske / Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): We must preemptively respond to mutations before autumn arrives.
According to the new vaccine data we've received, the improved vaccine is only a very small change from the old vaccine.
There is absolutely no problem with safety.]
The newly urgently approved vaccine can be given to people aged 12 years or older for Pfizer and 18 years old or older for Moderna.
The U.S. health authorities, who are preparing to start new vaccinations from the 1st of next month, are known to have started work to determine priority vaccination targets, such as those at high risk of Corona.
The FDA says it will be able to expand the improved vaccine to a younger age group in the next month or two.