The Food and Drug Administration has updated the Emergency Use Authorization for Evusheld to limit its use as it is “unlikely to be active against certain SARS-CoV-2 variants.”
According to the most recent CDC Nowcast data cited by the FDA, these variants are projected to be responsible for more than 90% of current infections in the U.S.
As such, AstraZeneca’s Evusheld vaccine is not expected to protect recipients from developing COVID-19 if they are exposed to said variants.
The FDA also voted on whether to roll out a two-strain Covid-19 shot that combines both the primary and booster doses currently in use.
Committee members voted 19-2 to approve “a bivalent vaccine with an original strain component and an Omicron variant component.” A general preference was expressed for vaccine coverage of Omicron sublineages BA.4 and BA.5.