Moderna claims its vaccine candidate against coronavirus, which is both the original COVID-19 strain as well as the dominant omicron variant, has a superior neutralizing antibody response to the virus than its original vaccine.
Moderna claims that the “bivalent” vaccine (aEUR) targets two antigens and is its top candidate for having an effective booster available in fall 2022.
Moderna CEO StA(c),phane Bancel stated in a press release that “We are submitting preliminary data and analysis to regulators in the hope of Omicron-containing Bivalent booster being available in the late Summer.”
Moderna believes that the new vaccine candidate will produce a higher antibody response, which means that boosters will provide protection against omicron that is more durable than the original Moderna vaccine.
Moderna’s chief physician, Dr. Paul Burton, said that the protection is so strong it could last for a year.
This means that people may not need COVID-19 boosters every year if the company’s findings are correct.
A yearly booster shot would provide relief for the public as well as the health care system, which has been affected by the pandemic. This includes the need to administer millions upon millions of vaccine doses followed by booster shots.
NPR spoke to health experts on Wednesday and they said it is still unclear how Moderna’s vaccine will work against the subvariants of the omicron that have been proven more effective at evading the immune system.
As new strains and variants of coronavirus emerge, immunologists have been faced with a difficult task: how to identify the best ones. Moderna’s bivalent vaccine is announced at a time when more contagious Omicron variants are being introduced in the U.S.
BioNTech and Pfizer are also testing a vaccine version that targets the Omicron variant.
After its appearance in late 2021, the original omicron variant quickly became the dominant transmission method in the U.S. It was overtaken by the omicron variant BA.2 aEUR” by March 31, but it has since been supplanted by the BA.2.12.12.1 subvariant by the CDC. Two new omicron variants are now rapidly spreading, BA.4 aEUR and BA.5.
This adds to the urgency. Next winter, another wave of infections will likely occur as the cold weather forces everyone indoors. The virus can then spread more easily.
Moderna has already praised this bivalent vaccine as a huge success. In April, Moderna announced that its beta-variant vaccine had been updated and produced high levels of antibodies over several months. While some experts considered these results to be proof of principle, others felt they needed more information about the benefits of the bivalent approach.
