One of the boxes containing the Modern COVID-19 vaccine is ready to be shipped to the McKesson Distribution Center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, USA on December 20, 2020.
Paul Sancya | Reuters
Modern plans to test a booster shot of the Covid-19 vaccine a year after the initial two-dose vaccination, as the duration of protection against new vaccines is not yet clear.
The biotech company plans to begin the trial in July, according to a corporate presentation this week. Their clinical trial sites have already begun contacting participants from their previous studies, according to an email shared by one of those people.
“From what we’ve seen so far, I think our expectation is that the vaccination will last you at least a year,” Moderna’s chief medical officer, Dr. Tal Zaks, said Monday at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference. “To the extent that you need reinforcement action, we will make a data-based recommendation and this will require us to obtain the data.”
The first participants in Moderna’s human clinical trials received their shots in mid-March; a second was given four weeks later. Since previous trials tested multiple doses of the vaccine, those with lower doses than ultimately allowed (100 micrograms) would get booster earlier, while those with 100 micrograms or more would get their booster at the brand name. year, according to a send to participants.
The reinforcement planned now is the same version of the vaccine that is on the market, but Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said it may be necessary in the coming years to adjust the vaccine to cover new variants.
“I think this is going to become a market like the flu,” he told CNBC. Moderna has also recently started a seasonal flu vaccine program.
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine booster study will assess both the safety and the amount of immune response that generates an additional shot a year later, Bancel said at this week’s conference.