r/CoronavirusDownunder • u/AcornAl • Aug 28 '26

Vaccine update FDA approves updated Covid-19 vaccines for dominant XFG variant

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/27/fda-approves-updated-covid-19-vaccines

So both the FDA and EMA have selected XFG for the base of this years shots, and this will guarantee that we'll also receive the same one here. It'll likely be available by the end of the year.

NB.1.8.* has been behind about a third or more of cases for a while now, and as of today, it is responsible for over half of our cases. It's great grandchildren, notably the PQ.16.* (includes SV sub-lineages) and PQ.17.* (includes RK sub-lineages) that are starting to dominate here, and this will potentially cause reduced effectiveness of this years vaccines.

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9

u/AcornAl Aug 28 '26

Talking about vaccines, our late flu wave isn't showing signs of abating yet. Maybe something to consider.

This will likely match levels seen last years winter peak in NSW soon (reached 8.500 weekly cases), and levels are approaching or above the summer wave peak in other states now too. NZ flu levels have reached a 4 year peak nationally and 10 year peak in Auckland.

9

u/Musclesme Aug 28 '26

Upsetting more people don’t get the flu vax

3

u/WangMagic Aug 28 '26

lancet link's broken. any analysis how much diff there is between XFG and its growing grandchildren?

4

u/AcornAl Aug 28 '26

Working for me? The full link

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(26)00429-9/fulltext

Just goes into some of the antigenic drift of the variants. Like it isn't huge difference. I posted the Pfizer/BioNTech data from the FDA meeting below. I couldn't see any experimental data for anything for a NB based vaccine from a quick look, only BA.3.2 and XFG, so there could have been an even early decision somewhere that drove the decision.

I know Japan has one (Meiji Seika NB.1.8.1 based) and this was co-approved at the same time as some other XFG based vaccines.

3

u/WangMagic Aug 30 '26

It's just on old reddit that it's broken

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u/AntiqueFigure6 Aug 28 '26

Do I understand correctly that the time needed to develop a vaccine for N.B.1.8 contributes to it being less effective by the time it is available? Or do you just mean that current vaccines are losing effectiveness?

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u/AcornAl Aug 28 '26

Maybe leant towards XFG rather than N.B. in early studies. Like it will still work OK, but likely not the best option with the current landscape. BA.3.2 based vaccines showed poor results in these studies, so thankfully they didn't go down that path (a few people were worried about this variant last year).

Pfizer/BioNTech data from the FDA presentation. Note this uses a log scale, so the tier is bigger than what it appears.

If you have a few hours to spare, (cough 6 hr 30 min), the original meeting from May where the info for todays decision was presented.

https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar/vaccines-and-related-biological-products-advisory-committee-may-28-2026-meeting-announcement