The FDA's vaccine advisers meet later this month to weigh updating booster shots.
Moderna announced new data on Wednesday suggesting a new version of its COVID-19 vaccine will offer superior protection to its original formulation of shots, based on studying antibodies generated by their new boosters in blood samples of trial participants. that it plans to submit its data to the Food and Drug Administration in the coming weeks. If the FDA signs off, doses of the updated vaccine and boosters could be ready to ship"as early as August.
The company also said the booster"was generally well-tolerated, with side effects comparable to a booster" of its original vaccine at the same size. Regulators have so far been wary of prematurely authorizing a change to the shots, citing the possibility that the onslaught of new variants could render the strategy futile — outrunning decisions to dump the current vaccine supply with only marginal improvements.
"We are confident that through the next several months of hard work, we will be able to supply substantial, large amounts of the updated bivalent booster. Hopefully sufficient to meet all demand that's out there for this updated vaccine through the fall season," said Hoge.