Company states variant-specific booster still in the works.
The makers of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine say a booster dose bolsters the body’s immune response to the Omicron variant—encouraging news as areas of the nation appear to be entering a holiday surge of the virus. Moderna scientists reported that the booster dose, about half the full dose of the vaccine, increased antibody levels against the new variant 37-fold in laboratory tests.
The company is still continuing to work on a variant-specific booster, which includes mutations from former variants of concern, such as Delta and Beta. Moderna is developing an Omicron-specific booster as well and expects to begin testing it early in 2022.
“To respond to this highly transmissible variant, Moderna will continue to rapidly advance an Omicron-specific booster candidate into clinical testing in case it becomes necessary in the future,” the company’s CEO said. “We will also continue to generate and share data across our booster strategies with public health authorities to help them make evidence-based decisions on the best vaccination strategies against SARS-CoV-2.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For HHS and CDC researchers who review and evaluate therapeutics.
- For the scientists are the various laboratories working on boosters and vaccines against the variants of the coronavirus.
- For wisdom for the president and his coronavirus advisors as they consider mitigation strategies.
- For families who have lost loved ones to the virus as they grieve during the holiday season.
Sources: Washington Examiner, CBS News
