Moderna Inc said on Monday that laboratory research showed that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine was protective against the fast-spreading Omicron strain, and that the current version of the vaccine will remain Moderna’s “first line of defense against Omicron.”
The choice to focus on the current vaccination, mRNA-1273, was influenced in part by the speed with which the recently found Omicron variation is spreading, according to the vaccine developer.
A two-dose course of the vaccine produced modest neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant, according to the company, but a 50 microgram booster dosage raised neutralizing antibodies against the variant by 37 times. Antibody levels were significantly greater after a higher, 100 microgram booster dose of the same vaccination – more than 80 times higher than pre-boost levels.
Blood from persons who had received the vaccine was tested against a pseudo virus made to look like the Omicron variety, according to the findings, which have not yet been peer reviewed. It’s comparable to the information presented by Anthony Fauci, a leading infectious disease expert in the United States, just a few weeks ago.
Governments and regulators, according to Burton, will have to decide whether they want the increased level of protection that a 100 microgram dose may provide.
The 100 microgram dose was generally safe and well tolerated, according to the company, albeit there was a modest increase in the number of adverse responses.
