What we know about the next round of Covid vaccines

Do you think a friend or colleague should get this newsletter? Share this link with them to register.

Good evening! It's almost that time of year again.

A new round of Covid vaccines will likely reach Americans in the coming months. Here's what we know about the latest vaccines so far.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday advised vaccine manufacturers to develop monovalent vaccines targeting a highly contagious strain of the virus called JN.1 for use in the United States starting this fall.

The Omicron JN.1 variant first appeared in the United States last summer and became the dominant strain in circulation by January. But the variant accounted for only about 3% of all new cases in the United States as of Saturday, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Several spin-offs of JN.1.11.1, a direct descendant of JN.1, have since taken over the primary strains circulating in the United States which include KP.3, KP.2, and KP.1.1, which are also known as FLiRT variants.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that KP.3 represents a quarter of all new cases in the United States as of June 8, while KP.2 makes up 22.5% of cases.

Federal health officials have long told Americans to expect annual updates on Covid vaccines, as the virus produces new strains that can evade the immunity people have from previous vaccinations or infections — protection that also wanes over time. It's similar to how the United States rolls out new flu vaccines every year.

Here's what the three Covid vaccine makers have said so far.

Pfizer The company has applied for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its updated messenger RNA Covid vaccine targeting JN.1, with the goal of making the vaccine available for the fall season pending a recommendation from the CDC, a company spokesperson said. Moderna It has applied for FDA approval for its updated mRNA shot targeting JN.1, according to the statement. The company said manufacturing is underway and doses of the new vaccine will be ready to ship in the United States as early as August.Novavax The company said in a statement that it expects to be ready to introduce its protein-based Covid vaccine targeting JN.1 in the United States in September, pending authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration and CDC.

Each company presented data last week showing that the JN.1 Covid vaccine should produce higher levels of protective antibodies against circulating variants of the virus than doses currently approved on the market targeting another omicron variant called XBB.1.5. This breed is no longer in circulation.

Once the Food and Drug Administration approves their vaccines, the vaccines will need recommendations from an advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the agency itself before they can be rolled out to Americans. A CDC advisory committee is scheduled to meet at the end of the month to vote on who should get the new round of vaccines this fall.

The bigger question is, how many people will roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated later this year?

Only about 22.5% of U.S. adults received the latest round of vaccinations rolled out last fall, according to CDC data through early May.

Many Americans who got previous rounds of Covid vaccines cited a lack of concern about the virus as a reason for not getting the latest booster shot, according to a November survey by health policy research organization KFF. Others said they were too busy to get their doses.

Coronavirus cases in the United States have declined from their peak earlier in the pandemic, but appear to be creeping up. The weekly test positivity rate in the United States was 4.5% as of June 1, up from 4.1% the week before and 3.4% the week before that, according to CDC data.

We will continue to see the new round of Covid vaccines as we head into the fall.

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

The White House announced on Monday Microsoft And Google The United States has agreed to provide free and low-cost cybersecurity resources to rural hospitals across the United States as the healthcare sector works to ward off increasing numbers of attackers.

Cyberattacks against the healthcare system rose 128% from 2022 to 2023, according to a statement, and the number of major security breaches in the sector rose to a record high last year. The attacks have shown no signs of stopping, with health systems and major companies plagued by breaches in recent months.

For example, UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare suffered a debilitating cyberattack in February, leaving thousands of doctors unable to fill prescriptions, verify benefits or get paid for their services. The White House said the hack was “one of the most significant healthcare-related cyberattacks to date.”

The White House said maintaining cybersecurity infrastructure is complex and expensive, and breaches often require “labor-intensive manual solutions” that can be particularly difficult for small rural hospitals. As a result, the Biden administration has called on technology companies such as Microsoft and Google to provide additional support.

Microsoft said it will provide rural emergency and critical access hospitals with up to a 75% discount on its security products designed for small organizations, according to a statement. The company said it will offer the “most advanced” security suite to some major rural hospitals for free for a year, and participating rural hospitals can also get Windows 10 security updates for free.

Rural hospitals can access free cybersecurity assessments and training through Microsoft and its partners to help identify risks and vulnerabilities within systems, the company said.

Google said it will offer “endpoint security consulting” to rural hospitals and nonprofits for free, meaning the company will help organizations make devices like their laptops and desktops more difficult to attack.

Google is also helping organizations get set up with platforms like Google Workspace and systems like Chrome and ChromeOS that have built-in security features, said Taylor Lehman, director of the Office of the Chief Information Security Officer at Google Cloud. The company provides funding to help organizations transform, Lehman added.

“To think that this problem will simply go away, or that the bad guys have bigger goals is not true,” he told CNBC in an interview. “Hope is not a strategy, especially when the market for attackers is so random.”

Google is also putting together a pilot program with a few rural hospitals to develop a free or low-cost package of tools it can offer to similar organizations on a larger scale in the future, Lyman said.

“It's very encouraging to see this activity. I think it's been a long time coming, and I think there's still more to do here,” he said. “I would say it's kind of a trend in the right direction, in terms of bringing attention to some of these really critical issues that we're seeing.”

Read the full statement from the White House here.

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas, and pitches to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.