June 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration

on Friday advised COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers that new shots

for the fall 2024 campaign should target the JN.1 variant that

was dominant earlier this year.

The FDA's advisory is in line with European and World Health

Organization recommendations and comes after the U.S. agency's

advisers overwhelmingly backed the targeting of the older JN.1

variant over the now-dominant KP.2 strain.

The advisers recommended the older strain as it is the only

strain which Novavax ( NVAX ) - one of the vaccine makers - said

it would be able to target with its shot.

Separately, another vaccine maker Moderna ( MRNA ) said

on Friday it has filed an application with the FDA for its

COVID-19 shot targeting the JN.1 strain.