STUDY – The Moderna company announced Monday that a booster made with a full dose of its Covid-19 vaccine, instead of a half-dose as was the case until then, offered effective protection against the Omicron variant, according to initial laboratory tests.
AL with AFP –
No change of strategy for Moderna. The company said in a statement that the first laboratory tests showed that boosters made with a full dose of its Messenger RNA vaccine offered sufficient protection against the new Omicron variant.
For boosters made with this messenger RNA vaccine, half a dose, 50 micrograms, is currently used, which is half the amount for the first two injections.
All the info on
Covid-19: the challenge of vaccination
A more effective booster with a full dose of Moderna
According to preliminary data, following a booster of Moderna vaccine with this dosage, neutralizing antibodies against Omicron are approximately 37 times higher than pre-booster levels. But when the booster is given with a full dose of 100 micrograms, the levels of neutralizing antibodies are increased by about 83 times. However, regardless of the dosage according to the study, people who were boosted with this type of vaccine saw their levels of neutralizing antibodies increase significantly anyway.
Following the good results of this preliminary study, Moderna therefore decided that the current version of the vaccine would remain the “Moderna’s first line of defense against Omicron”. The vaccine manufacturer justified this decision by the rapidity of the spread of the recently discovered variant.
“What we have right now is 1273”Moderna medical director Dr Paul Burton said in an interview with The Guardian. “It’s very effective, and it’s extremely safe. I think it will protect people during the upcoming holiday season and during these winter months, when we’re going to see the most severe pressure from the Omicron.” The company still plans to develop a specific vaccine against Omicron. Clinical trials of this new vaccine are expected to begin in early 2022.
Read also
- Faced with the Omicron variant, the vaccine will not be enough, warns the CEO of BioNTech
- Vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer, can I refuse a third of Moderna? The 8 p.m. answers you
These data are “reassuring”, comments the boss of Moderna, Stéphane Bancel, quoted in the press release. In early December, he had expressed reservations following the announcement by the Israeli Minister of Health that the Pfizer vaccine remained 90% effective against the new variant after three doses. Stéphane Bancel assured that the sample on which this study was based was too small.
On the same subject
The most read articles
Has Japan Really Recognized that Messenger RNA is “Dangerous to Health”?
LIVE – Covid-19: “More than one in three contamination linked to the Omicron variant in Paris”, indicates Gabriel Attal
Were 63% of Covid deaths vaccinated, as Philippe de Villiers claims?
Faced with the Omicron variant, the vaccine will not be enough, warns the CEO of BioNTech
In which departments does the Omicron variant circulate the most?
