Several pharmaceutical companies have submitted applications to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia to prevent the development of new strains of the Covid virus.
These vaccines, which are from Moderna and Pfizer, will be used to fight the JN.1 variant, which was detected in the country in late 2023.
In Australia, the JN.1 variant is the dominant one. It includes the FLiRT mutation, which is related to the KP 2 and KP 3 variants.
Because of this, the new vaccines should be able to protect against these mutations.
For instance, Pfizer’s vaccine is for individuals aged 6 months to older, while Moderna’s is for individuals aged 12 and older.
Although the approval of the vaccines is not guaranteed, Paul Griffin, an infectious disease specialist, noted that they could be a major advance over the current vaccines.
He said that although the virus continues to mutate, it doesn’t mean that they’re ineffective.
According to experts, the new vaccines could still decrease the effectiveness of the virus over time.
However, they noted that the new variants do not cause more severe disease.
They also believe that the virus is more transmissible than the older ones.
From January to August this year, the number of Covid-19 infections has increased to 205,830.
This figure peaked in June before it started to plateau.