New Delhi. Where on one hand the Omicron variant of Corona is spreading rapidly all over the world. Meanwhile, according to a big news, American biotech company Moderna has announced on Wednesday that it has developed a booster dose of the vaccine specially designed to compete with the Omicron variant of the corona virus. Clinical trials have now started. A total of 600 adults will be involved in these trials. Significantly, half of these have received two doses of Moderna’s corona vaccine at least 6 months ago. At the same time, half have received a pre-authorized booster dose along with two doses.
Special booster dose made for Omicron
It is worth noting that this booster dose has been specially designed for the Omicron variant. A booster dose specifically targeting Omicron will also be evaluated as both the third and fourth doses. However, the company had already provided necessary information regarding efficacy against the Omicron variant of the authorized booster dose. Also now the company says that, 6 months after the booster dose, the level of neutralizing antibodies against Omicron was reduced to 6 times from the high level at 29 days after injection.
Moderna’s trial also started for this special vaccine
Stephane Bancel, CEO, Moderna, said, “We are fully confident of antibody persistence against Omicron 6 months after the currently authorized booster dose. We are extremely pleased and relieved to begin this part of our Phase II study in advance of our Omicron specific vaccine. ,
Significantly, this statement of Moderna comes after Pfizer and BioNTech, in which the companies said that clinical trials for Omicron vaccine have now started. Both these vaccines are based on messenger RNA (RNA) technology, which makes it relatively easy to update them with specific mutations for new variants.