January 2023 - Page 6 Of 32

Medicaid grew a lot during the pandemic. Soon, it will shrink again. : Shots

George Mink Jr. is a health care outreach worker in Delaware County, Pa. He worries about what will happen when vaccines are no longer paid for by the federal government. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

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George Mink Jr. is a health care outreach worker in Delaware County, Pa. He worries about what will happen when vaccines are no longer paid for by the federal government. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

Kimberly Paynter/WHYY

Robert, who lives in Philadelphia, knows signing up for Medicaid can be tricky with his ADHD, so he brought his daughter along to help him fill out the paperwork.

“If we miss one little detail, they would reject you,” says Robert, who has had the government health insurance for people on low incomes in the past. “I usually get two applications, so if I mess up on one. I can do the other one.”

This time, with his daughter’s help, the application only took Robert a half hour. (NPR agreed to use Robert’s first name only because he has a medical condition he would like to keep private.)

Signing up for Medicaid correctly is about to become an important step for enrollees again after a three-year break from paperwork hurdles. In 2020, the federal government recognized that a pandemic would be a bad time for people to lose access to medical care, so it required states to keep people on Medicaid as long as the country was in a public health emergency. The pandemic continues and so has the public health emergency, most recently renewed on Jan. 11.

But the special Medicaid measure known as “continuous enrollment” will end on March 31, 2023 no matter what. It was part of the budget bill Congress passed in Dec. 2022. Even if the public health emergency is renewed in April, states will begin to make people on Medicaid sign up again to renew their coverage. And that means between 5 and 14 million Americans could lose their Medicaid coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the nonpartisan health policy organization..

The federal Department of Health and Human Services expects 6.8 million people to lose their coverage even though they are still eligible, based on historical trends looking at paperwork and other administrative hurdles. Pre-pandemic, some states made signing up for and re-enrolling in Medicaid very difficult to keep people off the rolls.

In the three pandemic years, the number of Americans on Medicaid and CHIP – the Children’s Health Insurance Program – swelled to 90.9 million, an increase of almost 20 million.

Jenn Lydic is the director of social services and community engagement at the Public Health Management Corporation, a nonprofit that runs six health centers in Philadelphia. She says the reprieve from renewal paperwork “allowed for a continuity that I think has really been lifesaving for a lot of folks.”

“I know so many patients who have now been able to really finally get ahead of a lot of their health conditions,” Lydic says.

Research shows that disruptions in Medicaid coverage can lead to delayed care, less preventative care, and higher health care costs associated with not managing chronic conditions like diabetes and substance-use disorder.

Philadelphia Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole worked in city health centers for years. She said the continuous Medicaid enrollment and pandemic measures like free access to COVID-19 tests and treatments have been a big advance. She would like to see some of that last.

“There was this moment with the pandemic in which we recognized that it was really important for everybody to have access to care. And we’ve somehow changed our minds about that,” says Bettigole. “If we were to have a newer, better vaccine that lasts longer, we would want everyone to get that. We recognized it for a moment, for a single condition, and now we’re kind of walking back from that. I do think that’s a pity.”

The boosted Medicaid rolls mean the country has a historically high rate of people with insurance at 92{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f}. That rate is likely to erode as Medicaid winnows down again. States do have some discretion on how they re-start the sign up process. It could take a few months to a year. If a state finds someone to be no longer eligible for Medicaid, they won’t be cut off immediately, said Jennifer Tolbert, associate director for the program on Medicaid and the uninsured at the Kaiser Family Foundation. The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services said it will take a full year to do this and is working to make sure no one experiences a lapse in health coverage.

The federal government also increased Medicaid funding to the states in 2020, and that increased funding won’t start phasing out until the end of 2023. Tolbert added that the move to keep people enrolled on Medicaid continuously is truly unprecedented, but there will be some lasting changes from the pandemic.

For instance, Oregon will allow children who qualify for Medicaid to enroll at birth, and stay enrolled until age 6, without having to reapply. Washington, California, and New Mexico are considering similar policies as well.

Another concern is what happens when the federally-funded supply of COVID-19 vaccines and tests ends. Last August, the federal government announced they do not have more funds from Congress to pay for COVID-19 vaccines. In March 2022, the federal government stopped paying for tests for uninsured patients.

George Mink Jr. is a community activist for Health Educated, a nonprofit in Delaware County that has hosted vaccine clinics, health fairs, and webinars. He took advantage of free Covid testing and vaccines early in the pandemic. Mink said he might not have gotten tested if he had to have health insurance or pay for it himself. He has not had any serious health issues, but in 2020, a close family friend died from COVID-19. Mink and his family got tested and found out they were positive.

“Who knows what could have happened?’ he says. “We still would have been … infecting other people. It made a major difference.”

Mink is also up to date with his COVID-19 vaccinations, but worries about what will happen when the vaccines are no longer free: “What if in two months, we got a new variant coming and now I need a new booster, and now I can’t afford it?”

Dr. Kristin Motley, a pharmacist, founded Health Educated, an outreach organization in Delaware County, Pa. Flyers for the podcast she hosts with George Mink Jr. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

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Dr. Kristin Motley, a pharmacist, founded Health Educated, an outreach organization in Delaware County, Pa. Flyers for the podcast she hosts with George Mink Jr. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

Kimberly Paynter/WHYY

The health departments in Pennsylvania and Delaware say they plan to keep providing free tests and vaccines for the foreseeable future, and that the federal government has yet to say when the free vaccine supply will be cut off.

Pharmacist Kristin Motley, the founder of the Health Educated nonprofit where Mink works, will be sorry to see the free vaccines go.

“It allowed us to go into the community, wherever people were and to say, you don’t have to register, you don’t have to bring I.D., you don’t have to bring insurance. You just come,” she says. “That was really nice to be able to help people in that way with no red tape, no bureaucracy. It was so seamless.”

How Corporate Fitness Operators Bring Wellness Into The Office

Organizations have been eager to provide staff members back again to the place of work, but numerous are locating that unless they can provide one thing new, the allure of the couch is a lot more robust than the simply call of the desk.

One particular system some firms are getting to check out and attract employees again is to employ a corporate wellness plan designed to cater to both thoughts and system. Company wellness has been rising in acceptance given that the pandemic, with just one target getting to assistance companies safe their best expertise. In Oct, ReportLinker identified that by 2027, world wide corporate wellness spending could rise to an approximated $94.4B, up from $57.9B in 2020.

These courses offer you a variety of well being and wellness possibilities that focus on actual physical and psychological desires by means of work out classes, diet education and stress administration things to do, amongst some others.

For battling business office homeowners wanting to lease up their areas, having the resources in location to help companies generate effective wellness packages could be a vital to results.

Joshua Enjoy, CEO of company wellness enterprise Kinema Physical fitness, mentioned corporate wellness courses can profit places of work that are looking to stand out amid rivals when also giving a area for tenants to make time for their wellness ambitions when at perform.

“Both employers and staff are searching for a advanced answer that addresses holistic well-getting and supports their objectives and aims,” Love claimed. “These packages concentrate on engagement by generating an inviting space the place they can participate in actions and discover new information.”

Adore claimed place of work proprietors could help organizations create much more engaging wellness systems by bringing in an outdoors company health operator to run the courses rather than taking care of their very own physical fitness facility. Many instructors for corporate fitness applications have the instruction and experience to tutorial men and women through systems that cater to just about every individual’s health and nutrition objectives. Having an operator with instructors that are CPR- and AED-licensed also can help to mitigate hazard for providers, really should injuries come about.

“With self-managed services, tenants could be pressed for time and only feel enthusiastic to occur in for a couple of minutes of operating out, which is not what most folks are seeking for,” Adore mentioned. “Instead, they’re hunting for one thing much more comprehensive that will help them do the job toward their ambitions. Some may want to master right sort or steerage utilizing the cardio machines, although many others are looking for private instruction or group work out lessons.”

Folks are often in unique phases of their health and fitness and wellness journey, and Adore said that Kinema delivers pros on board — like health and fitness coaches, physical therapists and trainers — to assist produce wellness solutions for a selection of ability degrees.

“We target on tailoring an practical experience that is right relevant to the employer’s team and coming up with plans that make feeling for them,” Really like mentioned. “On the specific side, it is about integrating fitness with nourishment and bringing all of the answers together in 1.”

Kinema generates areas that are adaptable to match distinct actions. In addition to work out and private schooling, tenants can also take edge of meditation rooms and quiet regions as nicely as studio rooms for toning, little group coaching periods and exercise routine classes. Its cardio equipment incorporates crafted-in Liquid crystal display screens so contributors can stream their favorite material though working out.

Kinema Exercise will work with structures of all dimensions and customizes its choices to in good shape employers’ requirements.

Love explained that businesses must commit in a company conditioning operator that focuses on developing an interactive and numerous wellness encounter for tenants, with training being not just about completing the exercise, but on owning enjoyment performing so.

“It comes down to producing sure that the space is inspiring and that people today are possessing exciting,” he claimed. “Having that element of human engagement and developing associations with staff members are the crucial components for bringing persons back to the business office.”

This write-up was created in collaboration among Studio B and Kinema Health and fitness. Bisnow information staff was not associated in the creation of this written content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn much more about how Studio B can assist your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.

Yale researchers discover loophole in FDA medical device regulation

Scientists at the Yale College of Medication and Harvard Professional medical University located that a loophole in current regulation has permitted suppliers to acquire U.S. Food and Drug Administration acceptance for unsafe healthcare units.

Stephanie Hu

1:50 am, Jan 26, 2023

U.S. Food items and Drug Administration

A recent examine led by scientists at the Yale University of Medicine and Harvard Medical Faculty located that a loophole in present regulation has permitted makers to receive U.S. Foods and Drug Administration acceptance for unsafe professional medical devices.

This get the job done was led by Kushal Kadakia, very first writer and M.D. prospect at Harvard Clinical School, and Harlan Krumholz ’80, senior creator, Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine and director of the Heart for Results Research and Analysis. Their study located empirical evidence that professional medical gadgets approved primarily based on a formerly-recalled product through the 510(k) regulatory pathway were noticeably much more probably to be topic to a Class I Remember, the FDA’s most extreme designation for recollects.

“The 510(k) pathway does not have to have healthcare units to endure new testing as very long as they can present they are substantially connected to previous permitted units, regarded as predicates,” Kadakia mentioned.

This pathway expedites the acceptance of medical gadgets that may perhaps only have small changes from previously permitted iterations and are getting applied for the very same intent. In point, more than 95 p.c of new products are cleared by the Fda via this pathway.

But thanks to a loophole in the regulation, the predicates by themselves may possibly not really be protected for human use.

“The way the law is prepared, if the Fda pulled it off the sector, it just can’t be made use of as a predicate, but if the company pulled it off the market, you retain the ability to reintroduce a new one that is substantially equal and still be utilised for that unsafe goal,” Krumholz claimed.

The study centered on health care units that were being subject to a Course I Remember. This type of recall is issued when a health-related device has a realistic probability of creating extreme adverse well being consequences up to and together with demise.

Former studies had furnished circumstance experiments demonstrating damage brought about by products accepted using recalled predicates. Kadakia labored on two these scientific tests of a catheter and rest apnea device that had been later subject to Class I Remembers. This new examine is special, having said that, in its scope.

“We were being equipped to go throughout various years and identify all the equipment that had these remembers, as a substitute of picking out a single or two,” Krumholz reported. “We have been capable to appear at a extensive group and give a much more representative look at.”

This tactic was designed possible by modern improvements in device discovering and details science. Since the FDA’s database only has conclusion letters, which listing the reasoning powering an authorization, it can be tough to figure out what devices have been authorized utilizing a certain machine as a predicate. With no the use of new computational tools, it would have been time-consuming to map the lineages of healthcare devices. On the other hand, the researchers were ready to build these lineages in partnership with an AI business and then manually verify the AI database’s outcomes.

The researchers identified a 6.4 situations maximize in recall fees for healthcare equipment permitted making use of recalled predicates when in comparison to non-recalled predicates. Supplied that each unit can have tens of hundreds of units and are applied all through the health care process, these recollects can have widespread consequences.

The Security of Untested and New Devices Act of 2012 was a prior try to rectify this difficulty, but failed to secure adequate votes. The researchers hope this novel analyze may reinvigorate the United States Congress to at the very least start off dialogue of the 510(k) pathway once more.

“The recalled predicate loophole is not an mysterious amount in Washington,” Kadakia reported. “We have now delivered empirical proof in a systematic way of how this loophole is becoming made use of to induce hurt.”

The research authors also acknowledge that far more do the job can be accomplished working with these new computational methods.

“We constrained it to a a single generation evaluation, but it would be exciting to glance at the small children of youngsters of recalled predicates and so on,” claimed César Caraballo, a postdoctoral affiliate at Yale Faculty of Medication.

Krumholz hopes that extra evidence would reinforce Congress’s capability to enact wise and empirically audio legislation. This is in particular significant as health-related gadgets acquire far much less investigation interest than medication since they are embedded all through the health-related system instead of at the point of treatment, Kadakia spelled out.

“If we had been ready to add exceptional device identifiers to declare forms, we could quantify the amount of money of spending that was licensed through the predicate recall loophole,” Kadakia claimed. “We could also figure out if the explanations for the new remembers and the recalls of the predicates are very similar.”

In the fiscal year 2022, 149 health care device solutions had been subject to Class I recalls.

Six lifestyle choices to slow memory decline named in 10-year study | Memory

A mixture of healthier life style choices this kind of as taking in nicely, on a regular basis doing exercises, playing cards and socialising at the very least 2 times a week may possibly support gradual the amount of memory drop and decrease the threat of dementia, a ten years-lengthy study implies.

Memory is a elementary perform of day-to-day life that consistently declines as individuals age, impairing quality of existence and efficiency, and raising the danger of dementia.

Proof from prior study has been inadequate to appraise the impact of nutritious life-style on memory trajectory, but now a examine implies that combining several healthful life-style choices – the much more the much better – is joined with softening the velocity of memory drop.

“A mixture of positive healthful behaviours is connected with a slower price of memory decline in cognitively usual older grownups,” scientists from the Nationwide Centre for Neurological Diseases in Beijing, China, wrote in the BMJ.

Practising several healthful life-style options alongside one another “was connected with a lower likelihood of development to delicate cognitive impairment and dementia”, they included.

Researchers analysed 29,000 grownups aged in excess of 60 with usual cognitive function who ended up element of the China Cognition and Ageing Review.

At the begin of the examine in 2009, memory purpose was measured employing assessments and folks have been checked for the APOE gene, which is the strongest hazard-issue gene for Alzheimer’s disease. The topics were then monitored for 10 many years with periodic assessments.

A wholesome life style score combining six things was calculated: a healthy diet regime regular physical exercise energetic social contact cognitive action non-using tobacco and not ingesting alcohol.

Primarily based on their score, ranging from zero to six, contributors ended up set into life style groups – favourable (four to six healthy elements), normal (two to a few healthier things), or unfavourable ( to 1 nutritious elements) – and into APOE-provider and non-provider groups.

A nutritious diet program was deemed as consuming at least 7 out of 12 food groups: fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, dairy, salt, oil, eggs, cereals, legumes, nuts and tea.

Writing, studying, playing playing cards or other game titles at minimum 2 times a week was the next place of nutritious behaviour.

Other spots bundled consuming no liquor, doing exercises for more than 150 minutes a 7 days at moderate intensity or extra than 75 at vigorous intensity, and under no circumstances possessing smoked or currently being an ex-smoker.

Social get hold of at least twice a week was the sixth healthful conduct, which includes things to do this kind of as viewing family members and close friends, attending meetings or likely to get-togethers.

Immediately after accounting for components likely to have an affect on the final results, the scientists discovered that every single specific healthy conduct was associated with a slower-than-normal drop in memory around 10 decades.

A wholesome food plan had the strongest impact on slowing memory drop, followed by cognitive action and then actual physical work out.

Individuals with the APOE gene who experienced balanced lives on the entire also seasoned a slower amount of memory decrease than those with APOE who have been the minimum balanced.

Total, individuals with 4 to 6 nutritious behaviours or two to 3 had been pretty much 90{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} and just about 30{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} respectively significantly less possible to develop dementia or mild cognitive impairment relative to these who were the least healthy, the BMJ claimed.

Dr Susan Mitchell, head of policy at Alzheimer’s Research United kingdom, claimed: “This is a well-conducted examine, which adopted persons about a lengthy time period of time, and adds to the significant evidence that a healthful life-style can support to help memory and imagining competencies as we age.

“Too handful of of us know that there are methods we can all take to lower our odds of dementia in later on lifetime.”

These foods will ‘support you through menopause’

Menopause, a organic part of woman’s daily life that usually starts when she in in her late 40s to early 50s owing to a decline in reproductive hormones, can direct to lots of actual physical and hormonal variations. A female is said to have had menopause when she’s been with out periods for a complete calendar year. But, the indicators may perhaps seem faster, throughout the perimenopause stage, just right before menopause, when a girl is in her “40s, though it can get started as early as their mid-30s or as late as their mid-50s.” Through this time, lots of may perhaps expertise indications like “hot flashes, mood swings, and tiredness, whilst oestrogen levels may start out to decrease, affecting your bones, muscle mass, and metabolic process.”

But, did you know that what you eat at this time can make a enormous variance, and also simplicity the symptoms a bit? So, here’s a information from nutritionist Bhakti Kapoor who took to Instagram to share that whilst the threat variables and signs and symptoms associated with ageing and menopause are not in our control “but when the signs and symptoms do begin to exhibit up, you can use the correct foodstuff to help alleviate people indicators.”

“A properly-well balanced food plan is vital at any age, but your body requires further endurance and care in the course of menopause. From metabolic adjustments to an greater danger of osteoporosis, altering your diet regime can help you remain ahead of long term symptoms. It is vital not to overwork your overall body with intense diet programs,” she wrote as she listed some foodstuff that will guidance you by means of menopause.

These incorporates:
– Salmon
– Lentis
– Eggs
– Avocado
– Oats
– Kefir
– Leafy greens
– Mushrooms

Examine out her submit here:

Agreed Garima Goyal, a registered dietician, and reported that even though there is no one food that eases this period of lifetime but consuming a effectively well balanced food plan replete with nutrient dense foodstuff can assist you get as a result of each individual working day superior.

The professional also shared some food items that can assistance gals throughout menopause:

– Dairy items are usually a good-to-go as they contain all the vital minerals and nutritional vitamins wanted for nutritious bones such as vitamin D, vitamin K, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium.

– Green leafy veggies are also loaded with calcium and vitamin K which can be incredibly helpful to the human body through this section.

– Foods wealthy in Omega 3 these kinds of as fish, flax seeds and chia seeds may possibly assistance offer with very hot flashes, a significant symptom.

– Fibre loaded full grains, fruits and greens (especially cruciferous greens) are vital as they safeguard from coronary heart ailments, diabetic issues, most cancers, and support total health.

– Phytoestrogens that contains meals this sort of as broccoli, cauliflower, dim berries, chickpeas and soybeans minimize menopausal symptoms by mimicking oestrogen.

– Just 40 grams of flaxseeds is equal to the hormone remedy prescribed by health professionals to menopausal ladies. So include these in your diet regime as a component within flour batters, smoothies or sprinkled in dals.

“Also, be aware that the foodstuff that worsen menopause indicators are caffeine, alcoholic beverages, refined carbohydrates, processed and packaged foodstuff and spicy meals — so check out to stay clear of these as a lot as you can,” she instructed indianexpress.com.

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COVID vaccine strategy to get an overhaul by FDA : Shots

Licensed vocational nurse Denise Saldana vaccinates Pri DeSilva, associate director of Individual and Corporate Giving, with a fourth Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine booster at the Dr. Kenneth Williams Health Center in Los Angeles, Nov. 1, 2022.

Damian Dovarganes/AP

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Damian Dovarganes/AP

The Food and Drug Administration is considering a major shift in the nation’s COVID-19 vaccine strategy.

The goal is to simplify vaccination against COVID and perhaps adopt an approach similar to what is used for the flu vaccine, with annual updates to match whatever strain of the virus is circulating. This is according to a federal official who spoke under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

NPR reported the proposed shift early Monday morning, and later Monday the FDA outlined it publicly in a set of documents released in advance of a meeting Thursday of the agency’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC). The committee will vote on the agency’s proposal.

Currently, people who want to be fully vaccinated against COVID have to first get their primary vaccinations — two shots of the original vaccine spaced weeks apart. That’s followed at least two months later by a booster, currently the bivalent shot that’s tailored to protect against omicron.

Under the new approach, most people would be advised to simply get whatever the latest version of the vaccine is annually each fall like the flu vaccine. They wouldn’t have to worry about how many shots they’ve already gotten and which one they got when. Those who still need to receive two doses initially, such as young children and older people, would use the same formulation for all three shots.

Can you get COVID and the flu at the same time?

Vaccine makers would update the annual shot through a process that would begin each spring to try a match the vaccine as closely as possible to whatever variant will likely be dominant in the coming winter. That’s how the flu vaccine is formulated each year.

“FDA anticipates conducting an assessment of SARS-CoV-2 strains at least annually and to engage VRBPAC in about early June of each year regarding strain selection for the fall season,” the FDA wrote in its briefing document, adding that updated vaccines would be readied for use by September each year.

The agency notes that if a more dangerous COVID variant were to emerge, it might reconsider the vaccine strain at other times of the year on an “as-needed and emergent basis.”

Some immunologists and vaccine researchers say simplifying the process along the lines of the flu vaccine is appropriate at this point in the pandemic. However, many questions remain about emerging booster strategy.

“As far as the tools that we have right now, I think it just makes the most sense to plan to update each year as close as we can to the currently circulating variant,” says Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona. “So I think all the things the FDA is considering make a lot of sense.”

Questions about efficacy of updated shots

There’s an intense debate about the wisdom of updating the COVID vaccines regularly to try to match new variants. Some researchers question whether that really makes the vaccines more effective. They also argue that the low demand for the latest booster shows the public has little appetite for continued boosting with the vaccines, even if they’ve been updated with new strains.

Is it time for a reality check on rapid COVID tests?

“The public is voting with their arms if you will and said, ‘No. I’m not going to get this. This doesn’t make sense to us,'” says Dr. Gregory Poland, a vaccine researcher at the Mayo Clinic.

While endorsing continued boosters for those at high risk, such as the elderly, some question whether the current bivalent vaccines updated to target omicron have enhanced protection compared to the original vaccines. Most people are still well-protected against severe disease by the immunity they already have, they say.

“We have no solid data about the performance of the bivalent boosters,” says John Moore, an immunologist at Weill Cornell Medical College. “The hard evidence is lacking, and the evidence that is out there is at the very least inconclusive and to me trends towards saying the bivalent boosters were little if no better.”

Moore and others argue that the virus is changing so fast that it’s pointless to constantly try to match the vaccines to the latest variants.

“We shouldn’t really be chasing these variants, which are evanescent and are often gone by the time you’ve created the vaccine,” says Dr. Paul Offit of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the FDA’s advisers.

Offit and others also question whether everyone will necessarily need to be boosted regularly, or just those at high risk, like the elderly.

Arguments for alternate vaccine strategies

Critics of the FDA’s proposed new strategy argue that it would be better to invest in developing better vaccines that might be more appealing to people, and in campaigns to get more people vaccinated. Better vaccines could include those that could keep people from catching the virus in the first place not just from getting seriously ill — such as a nasal spray vaccine. Or perhaps vaccines that provide longer protection or are administered in pill form, to make them more acceptable to the needle-averse.

“Particularly now when Congress is not allocating new funds for COVID response, we have to be especially judicious in how we spend our money and what would be most cost-effective,” says Dr. Celine Gounder, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “It’s unclear whether updating the booster formulations and repeatedly boosting people is the most effective approach to controlling COVID at this stage.”

Another concern some researchers have is that the FDA continues to rely on antibody levels to test vaccine efficacy.

“I think we need to raise the bar and require more evidence of clinical efficacy,” says Dr. Eric Rubin, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard who is also a member of the advisory committee. For instance, Rubin says the FDA should require proof the updated vaccines are actually reducing the risk of getting infected, getting sick, hospitalized and dying.

Others say updating the vaccines make sense to make sure people are as well-protected as possible while researchers continue to try to develop new vaccines.

“Even if you don’t have a booster that matches 100{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} what’s circulating, you will have a booster that matches 75{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} to 80{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} to 90{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} of what’s circulating,” says David Martinez, an immunologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “And that will be good enough. It would probably benefit most people.”

The FDA looks ahead to endemic COVID

Some researchers think it’s too soon to rely on annual boosters. COVID hasn’t quite settled into a seasonal pattern like the flu, they note, and the SARS-CoV2 virus is changing more quickly than the flu virus. So people may need to be boosted more frequently, especially since protection against severe disease may only last about four to six months, they say.

“We’re going to be reaching that pretty soon with the early adopters of the bivalent boosters, like myself,” says Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “I don’t know if an annual strategy is going to cut it.”

The FDA’s plan comes as COVID appears to be moving toward becoming an endemic disease. That doesn’t mean it’s going away or it’s not a threat anymore. The disease will continue to be a threat for the foreseeable future, making many people sick and even potentially killing hundreds a day, making it a major public health problem and a leading cause of death, health experts say.

But unless some more dangerous version of the virus suddenly emerges, the world might finally be settling into a more predictable co-existence with the virus. The federal official NPR spoke to says the goal of the new vaccine strategy is to make the vaccines, which are the major weapon for protecting ourselves, simpler and hopefully therefore more appealing. The latest boosters have found very few takers.

The thinking is that at this point in the pandemic the overwhelming majority of people have a significant levels of immunity, either from having gotten vaccinated and boosted, or infected one of more times, or both. And while that immunity appears to protect most people from severe disease, that protection does appear to fade with time.

The FDA is also considering making the shots interchangeable. That way people wouldn’t have to worry which brand they’re getting. Again, the change is aimed at making COVID shots more like the flu shots. People don’t typically worry about the brand of the flu vaccine they receive.

The vaccine would still be administered at different doses for different ages. And very young children and older people would still get two shots each year, much like the flu vaccine.

If the FDA advisory committee endorses the approach Thursday, the FDA would work with the vaccine companies and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to finalize the details. And the FDA advisers would meet again in the spring to pick the specific strain or strains of the virus the new shots should target.