COVID-19 shots still work but researchers say they’re testing new approaches

vaccines that still offer very strong protection against COVID-19’s worst outcomes, said Dr. Beth Bell of the University of Washington, an adviser to the U.S.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Despite success in preventing serious illness and death, there’s growing pressure to develop vaccines better at fending off milder infections, too, as well as options to counter scary variants.“We go through a fire drill it seems like every quarter, every three months or so” when another mutant causes frantic tests to determine if the shots are holding, Pfizer vaccine chief Kathrin Jansen told a recent meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences.Yet seeking improvements for the next round of vaccinations may seem like a luxury for U.S.

families anxious to protect their littlest children _ kids under 5 who are not yet eligible for a shot. Moderna’s Dr. Jacqueline Miller told The Associated Press that its application to give two low-dose shots to the youngest children would be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration “fairly soon.” Pfizer hasn’t yet reported data on a third dose of its extra-small shot for tots, after two didn’t prove strong enough.The original COVID-19 vaccines remain strongly protective against serious illness, hospitalization and death, especially after a booster dose, even against the most contagious variants.Updating the vaccine recipe to match the latest variants is risky, because the next mutant could be completely unrelated.

So companies are taking a cue from the flu vaccine, which offers protection against three or four different strains in one shot every year.Moderna and Pfizer are testing 2-in-1 COVID-19 protection that they hope to offer this fall.