California COVID-19 Updates: New FDA-Approved Booster, Targeting Omicron Variant, NBA Player Testing

FDA clears updated COVID boosters targeting newest variants

U.S. federal regulators on Wednesday authorized its first update to COVID-19 vaccines, booster doses that target today’s most common omicron strain.

The move by the Food and Drug Administration tweaks the recipe of shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna that already have saved millions of lives. The hope is that the modified boosters will blunt yet another winter surge.

“You’ll see me at the front of the line,” FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks told The Associated Press shortly before his agency cleared the new doses.

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Understanding the new FDA-approved COVID booster

A brand new COVID-19 booster could be available as soon as next week — one that protects against the original strain of coronavirus, along with the newer, more contagious strains. NBC Bay Area’s Raj Mathai spoke to Dr. Peter Chin-Hong of UCSF for some insight.

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CDC head on fast-tracking new Omicron-specific boosters: The consequences could be worse "if we wait"

The omicron-specific booster shots set to arrive within the next week are being fast-tracked, and just got approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before being fully tested in humans.

There's a good reason why, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

"If we wait for those data to emerge in human data, not just mice data, we will be using what I would consider to be a potentially outdated vaccine," Walenksy said on the "Conversations on Health Care" radio show last week. That could have severe consequences for the nation ahead of a projected Covid surge in the fall and winter, she added.

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Unvaccinated NBA players, staff must test weekly for COVID-19

Unvaccinated NBA players and team personnel must submit to weekly COVID-19 testing this season, the league told its clubs in a memo Tuesday.

There will be certain exceptions to that mandate, the league said, such as when the unvaccinated person is considered to have been “recently recovered” from COVID-19 reports The Associated Press.

But for all others, testing will not be required except when “directed by their team physician or a league physician or government authority,” the league said. Facemasks also will not be required, though they will be recommended for use indoors in markets where coronavirus levels are classified by government officials as high.

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