Epigraph:
Every human life is precious and sacred. One who saves a life it is as if he or she has saved the whole of humanity. (Al Quran 5:32/33)
Source: WSJ
Testing will evaluate whether a new shot from the biotech will better target a strain first identified in South Africa
Moderna Inc. said Wednesday that the first study volunteers have received modified Covid-19 vaccines designed to better target a more contagious variant of the coronavirus, marking a milestone in the race to stay ahead of the shifting pathogen.
The Cambridge, Mass., company, which has one of the Covid-19 vaccines widely in use, plans to enroll 60 people to test the new shot.
The subjects had previously received the standard two doses of Moderna’s original shot as part of a mid-stage study that began last year. In the new portion of the study, these adult volunteers will receive a booster shot containing Moderna’s modified vaccine, code-named mRNA-1273.351.
Moderna designed the modified shot to better target a highly transmissible strain of the virus that was first identified in South Africa and has spread elsewhere.
Some subjects will receive the variant vaccine alone in the mid-stage, or Phase 2, study, while others will get a single shot, code-named mRNA-1273.211, containing both the variant and original vaccines.
Categories: Vaccine