Moderna Reveals How Effective Its Booster Dose Is Against Omicron & Phew, It's Good News
The company is also working on an Omicron specific vaccine.
The new COVID-19 variant Omicron has put a damper on many holiday season plans but Moderna has confirmed that its booster shot does show to amp up protection.
In a news release published on December 20, Moderna stated that the authorized booster shot increased protection against the Omicron variant compared to the first and second doses.
"These data showing that the currently authorized Moderna COVID-19 booster can boost neutralizing antibody levels 37-fold higher than pre-boost levels are reassuring," said CEO Stéphane Bancel.
He added: "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."
Moderna is also working on improving the booster shot to strengthen its protection against variants of concern. This included testing the booster shot at the authorized 50 micrograms and doubling the dose to 100 micrograms.
So far, the company has found that although the approved 50-microgram booster appears to increase protection against the virus by 37-fold compared to pre-booster shots, a 100-microgram dose of the booster increased protection through neutralizing antibody levels by 83-folds in comparison to the booster shot.
The booster candidates are being evaluated at phase 2/3, with each study comprising 300-600 participants.
The reports also addressed the safety of the 100-microgram booster shot as found from the phase 2/3 study. The study showed that the 100-microgram booster was “generally safe and well-tolerated.”
However, the findings showed that the 100-microgram booster resulted in slightly more frequent adverse reactions than the 50-microgram booster.
In the news release, the company also promised to continue developing an Omicron-specific variant vaccine, which they hope to take to clinical trials by early 2022.
