WASHINGTON, June 8, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - US biotech company Moderna on 
Wednesday announced positive results for a new vaccine that targets both the 
original Covid strain and Omicron, and sees the shot as its "lead candidate" 
for a booster this fall.

The so-called "bivalent" vaccine was tested in a trial of 814 adults and 
shown to produce 1.75 times more Omicron-specific neutralizing antibodies, 
which have the power to prevent infection, compared to Moderna's original 
Spikevax vaccine.

All of the participants previously received three doses of Spikevax, and then 
slightly more than half went on to get a fourth dose of the bivalent shot 
while the rest got another dose of Spikevax. 

Antibody levels were tested one month later.

The group that got the new shot also received slightly superior protection to 
the ancestral strain of Covid compared to Spikevax -- though original Covid 
has long since disappeared from circulation.

"We are thrilled," said Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna in a statement, 
adding he anticipated this vaccine would be the company's lead candidate for 
authorization as a booster this fall.

"We want to be as ready as early as August for shipping," he added to 
investors in a call.

Breakthrough infections have risen since Omicron and its sub lineages became 
dominant at the start of this year, with vaccine makers hoping to restore 
efficacy to previous levels, even as first generation vaccines continue to 
protect well against severe disease and death.

Moderna did concede that antibody levels would be lower against Omicron's sub 
variants that are now in circulation, but said it believed it was still a 
superior booster than repeating Spikevax. 

It also doesn't yet have data on durability -- how the new vaccine booster 
will fare three months and six months out.

The problem of an ever-evolving virus poses a challenge for health 
authorities. A panel of Food and Drug Administration experts will meet June 
28 to discuss considerations and strategies for boosters in fall and winter.

"Society is moving toward a new normal that may well include annual Covid-19 
vaccination alongside seasonal influenza vaccination," top FDA officials 
wrote in a letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association in May.

President Joe Biden's government has said it has enough funds to deliver 
fourth shots for those at highest risk this fall -- the elderly and those 
with immune compromised conditions. 

But whether these vaccines will be made widely available to the general 
public for free could depend on whether Congress authorizes $22.5 billion in 
funding the White House is seeking.