NEW: Moderna says its Covid-19 booster does appear to provide protection against omicron, but the drug company will still be developing a new shot specific to the variant.
In an announcement early Monday, the drug company said preliminary data from lab testing found the version of itsand elsewhere provided increased antibody levels to neutralize the virus. But it also found that a double dose of the booster shot provided a much greater increase in those levels.
The company said it would still be working to develop an omicron-specific booster, however, with the shot expected to advance into clinical trials in early 2022.In a statement, Moderna chief executive officer Stéphane Bancel said the company's findings should come as"reassuring" news. Moderna said the decision to focus on the current vaccine, mRNA-1273, was driven in part by how quickly the recently discovered variant is spreading.
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