Ottawa pizzeria places among top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world at international competition
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
U.S. regulators told COVID-19 vaccine makers Thursday that any booster shots tweaked for the fall will have to add protection against the newest omicron relatives.
The Food and Drug Administration said the original vaccines would be used for anyone still getting their first series of shots. But with immunity waning and the super-contagious Omicron family of variants getting better at dodging protection, the FDA decided boosters intended for fall needed an update.
The recipe: Combination shots that add protection against the Omicron relatives named BA.4 and BA.5 to the original vaccine. Those mutants together now account for just over half of new U.S. infections.
It's still a gamble as there's no way to know if an omicron relative still will be a threat as cold weather approaches or if a newer mutant will take its place. And the current Pfizer and Moderna vaccines still offer strong protection against COVID-19's worst outcomes as long as people have gotten already recommended boosters.
But the combination approach, what scientists call "bivalent" shots, would allow the boosters to retain the proven benefits of the original vaccine while adding to its breadth of protection. It's a common vaccine strategy: Flu shots, for instance, can protect against four influenza strains and are tweaked annually depending on what's circulating.
The FDA's decision comes after its scientific advisers earlier this week recommended that any boosters for a fall campaign should contain some version of Omicron -- but left undecided whether it should be the Omicron mutant that caused last winter's surge or the genetically distinct relatives that have replaced it.
Pfizer and Moderna already were brewing and testing boosters updated against the first Omicron mutant in anticipation of an October rollout. They found adding the extra protection was safe -- and spurred production of more omicron-fighting antibodies than just getting another dose of today's vaccine.
Pfizer had begun work on another experimental dose to target the newer strains the FDA ultimately settled on.
"We're continuing to collect more data from our study on BA.4/5 and will be in touch as soon as we are ready to submit," Pfizer spokeswoman Jerica Pitts said in an emailed message.
Moderna told FDA's advisers that switching to the even newer strains now circulating might delay its booster update another month. Moderna didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
The FDA's order doesn't guarantee that those combo shots would be offered in the fall. Manufacturers still have to provide key data before the agency decides whether to authorize modified boosters -- and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention then would have to decide how they're used.
For now, an all-important first booster of current vaccine already is urged for all Americans age 5 and older. People 50 and older are eligible for a second booster. With Omicron, authorities say the shots' protection against COVID-19 hospitalization, while still robust, has slipped some in older adults and a second booster can help restore it.
------
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
Police are searching for a suspect in a homicide investigation after a man was slashed in downtown Toronto on Sunday.
This Mother's Day Weekend, take a look at some of the most emotional movies inspired by moms.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.