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Vaccine advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today recommended switching the SARS-CoV-2 strain from the XBB.1.5 variant to JN.1 for fall vaccine formulations. The recommendation marks the third remake for the COVID vaccine since 2022. The measure unanimously passed, 16 to 0. FDA officials, concerned about further evolution of JN.1, also asked the group to discuss the possibility of recommending an offshoot of JN.1, such as KP.2, that may more closely match currently circulating strains. (Schnirring, 6/5)

“It’s becoming clear that the ideal timing for a vaccine composition decision remains elusive,” said Jerry Weir, an official with the F.D.A.’s vaccine division. ... Dr. Sarah Meyer, a senior vaccines official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that aiming at JN.1 was more appropriate because it was “further up on the tree” in the evolution of the coronavirus, possibly allowing the vaccines to better cover mutations in the virus later this year. (Weiland and Jewett, 6/5)

State lawmakers approved millions of dollars for research on a new COVID-19 treatment that will soon begin clinical trials, with every step of the research and development to take place completely in South Carolina. It’s a new way to treat COVID by inhaling medicine into the lungs to address respiratory inflammation, compared with the already-developed antiviral pill. (Rademaker, 6/5)