FDA OK's new COVID vaccine shots for fall 2024 from Pfizer and Moderna

The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday it has greenlighted updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna for the 2024 fall season. The decision clears the way for distribution to begin for the latest version of the shots earlier this year than last year.

Moderna and Pfizer's shots were revised this year to target the KP.2 variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as part of a now-annual process undertaken by the FDA and health authorities around the world to update the vaccines to protect against newer strains of the virus.

"Given waning immunity of the population from previous exposure to the virus and from prior vaccination, we strongly encourage those who are eligible to consider receiving an updated COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants," said Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.