(Reuters) – U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers unanimously recommended on Thursday that COVID-19 vaccines for the 2025-26 period should target newer strains of the JN.1 variant.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the LP.8.1 strain — a subvariant of the previously recommended JN.1 strain — accounted for 70% of total cases in the United States over a two-week period ended May 10.

While the LP.8.1 is the predominant circulating strain, other virus subvariants, including LF.7 and XFG, have also been increasingly detected in recent weeks, FDA documents showed earlier this week.

The FDA panel’s recommendation aligns with the European Medicines Agency’s panel, which recently advised updating COVID vaccines to target the LP.8.1 strain.

Meanwhile, a team of experts from the World Health Organization has also declared vaccines targeting the LP.8.1 strain as a “suitable alternative” to the current ones.

(Reporting by Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)