Moderna Tests Booster Vax On South African Variant

The Washington Post reports:

Moderna said Wednesday that it has manufactured a new version of its coronavirus vaccine that is tailored to quell infection by the variant first identified in South Africa.

A small amount of vaccine has been sent to the National Institutes of Health for a trial to determine whether boosting humans with the modified vaccine will stimulate a strong immune response, the company said.

The news came after the release of a Food and Drug Administration review finding the single-shot coronavirus vaccine made by pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson safe and effective. The review sets the stage for a third coronavirus vaccine to be authorized in the United States as soon as this weekend.

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Earlier today we announced that we shipped our variant-specific vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273.351, to the @NIH for a Phase 1 clinical trial that will be led and funded by the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Read more: https://t.co/2mrULTMGWn pic.twitter.com/xiWd7e93IR

— Moderna (@moderna_tx) February 24, 2021

Moderna developing booster shot for new coronavirus variants, increases vaccine production target https://t.co/pGaWtzaxjw pic.twitter.com/qQAy35nNsP

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 24, 2021