The Biden administration plans to urge all Americans to get a booster shot for the coronavirus this autumn to counter a new wave of infections, a White House official said on Sunday.

The official said that while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are reporting an increase in infections and hospital admissions from the virus, overall levels remain low.

On Thursday, Moderna (MRNA.O) said initial data showed its updated COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the “Eris” and “Fornax” subvariants in humans.

Moderna and other COVID-19 vaccine makers Novavax (NVAX.O), Pfizer (PFE.N) and German partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) have created versions of their shots aimed at the XBB.1.5 subvariant.

Pending approval from health regulators in the United States and Europe, the companies expect the updated shots to be available in the coming weeks for the autumn vaccination season.

We will be encouraging all Americans to get those boosters in addition to flu shots and RSV shots,” the official said, referring to the Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

  • Vlyn@lemmy.zip
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    1 year ago

    That’s not how vaccines work. You don’t “program” them. For example the Covid mRNA vaccine is only in your body for literally days (at most). At max a week later it’s fully gone, no more trace of the actual vaccine.

    It just tricks your own cells into creating harmless proteins that look similar to the actual virus, so your anti-bodies learn how to attach to them and eliminate them. They learn, they reproduce and remember. When the actual virus gets into your body your body just goes “Ah, I know that stuff already, I know what to do.” instead of not even realizing there’s a virus at first and then frantically trying to find a solution to the intruder (which is based on random chance pretty much, if your body is too slow the virus has too much time to spread, either fucking you up or even killing you if your immune system isn’t up to speed).

    This video is really cool in regards to that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmpuerlbJu0

    • Efwis@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      i was using the term program for lack of a better way to put it. I will watch the video though, I’m always interested in learning new things