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Latest UpdatesStay current with Novavax news as we make progress in discovering and developing innovative vaccines to help protect against serious infectious diseases.
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Blog
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Novavax is committed to accelerating the development of new and promising vaccines and sharing information based on years of study and experience.
The Value of Targeting the JN.1 “Tree Trunk”
Viruses evolve.1 It’s the reason healthcare providers recommend getting updated flu and COVID-19 shots this respiratory virus season.2,3
The virus that causes COVID-19 has continuously mutated, evolving from the Wuhan strain in 2020 to new strains that have included the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omicron variants and XBB subvariants.4,5 As of early fall 2024, the primary subvariants circulating in the United States are descendants of the JN.1 strain.4
Comparing circulating strains and subvariants to a tree and its branches is a helpful analogy to better understand how evolving strains relate to one another.6 Consider the primary strains as the “trunk of the tree.” Presently the primary strain giving rise to mutated subvariants is JN.1.4 The mutated subvariants that are currently circulating can be considered as descendants, or "branches," of JN.1.4 They include KP.2.3, KP.3, KP.3.1.1 and LB.1.4
JN.1 differs in more than 30 mutations in the spike protein compared to XBB.1.5, the subvariant that was targeted for the 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccination season.7 This means it is actually quite different and explains why an update to the vaccine formulation may be needed.2
Though it is impossible to predict which other subvariant “branches” will emerge as dominant as the 2024-2025 vaccination season advances, it is likely they will be related to JN.1.7
Targeting JN.1, the current "tree trunk," potentially increases the breadth of cross-protection against emerging strains in light of the possibility that future dominant JN.1-descendant strains may not be descendants of KP subvariants.2,7
- Markov PV, Ghafari M, Beer M, et al. The evolution of SARS-CoV-2. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2023;21(6):361-379. doi:10.1038/s41579-023-00878-2
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Recommends Updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 and Flu Vaccines for Fall/Winter Virus Season. June 27, 2024. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/s-t0627-vaccine-recommendations.html. [Accessed: September 2024].
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A Strong Defense Against Flu: Get Vaccinated! September 11, 2020. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pdf/freeresources/general/strong-defense-against-flu.pdf. [Accessed: September 2024].
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID Data Tracker. Available at: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions. [Accessed: September 2024].
- Wolf JM, Wolf LM, Bello GL, Maccari JG, Nasi LA. Molecular evolution of SARS-CoV-2 from December 2019 to August 2022. J Med Virol. 2023;95(1):e28366. doi:10.1002/jmv.28366
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About Variants of the Virus that Causes COVID-19. Available at: https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/106426/cdc_106426_DS1.pdf. [Accessed: September 2024].
- European Medicines Agency. EMA confirms its recommendation to update the antigenic composition of authorised COVID-19 vaccines for 2024-2025. Available at: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/other/ema-confirms-its-recommendation-update-antigenic-composition-authorised-covid-19-vaccines-2024-2025_en.pdf. [Accessed: September 2024].
- Kaku Y, Uriu K, Okumura K; Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan) Consortium, Ito J, Sato K. Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 KP.3.1.1 variant. Lancet Infect Dis. Published online August 16, 2024. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(24)00505-X
- Kaku Y, Yo MS, Tolentino JE, et al. Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 KP.3, LB.1, and KP.2.3 variants. Lancet Infect Dis. 2024;24(8):e482-e483. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(24)00415-8