One of the boxes containing the Modern COVID-19 vaccine is ready for shipment to McKesson’s distribution center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, USA, on December 20, 2020.
Paul Sancya | Reuters
Moderna plans to test a booster injection of its Covid-19 vaccine one year after the initial two-dose immunization, as the duration of protection for the new vaccines is not yet clear.
The biotech company plans to start testing in July, according to a corporate presentation this week. Their clinical trial centers have already started contacting participants from their previous studies, according to an email shared by one of these people.
“From what we’ve seen so far, I think our expectation is that vaccination should last at least a year,” Moderna Medical Director Dr. Tal Zaks told investors and analysts at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference on Monday. “To the extent that you need a booster shot, we will make a data-based recommendation, and that will require us to get the data.”
The first participants in Moderna’s human clinical trials received their injections in mid-March; a second was given four weeks later. Since previous tests tested multiple doses of the vaccine, those with lower than authorized doses – 100 micrograms – would be boosted earlier, while those with 100 micrograms or more would be boosted at the mark of the year, according to an email to the participants.
The reinforcement that is being planned now is the same version of the vaccine that is on the market, but Moderna’s CEO, Stephane Bancel, said that 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 also recently started a seasonal flu vaccine program.
The booster study for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine will assess the safety and how much of an immune response an additional injection a year later generates, Bancel said at the conference this week.