Moderna Claims Its Latest Covid Jab Is Effective Against Newer Variant

Moderna has claimed that clinical trial data suggests that its updated Covid-19 vaccine will be effective against the highly-mutated BA.2.86 subvariant that some believe will cause another wave.

According to Moderna, its latest shot generated an 8.7-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies in humans against BA.2.86.

Results also indicate that the jab may still be effective against other newer variants including Eris and another variant nicknamed Fornax, both of which are also descendants of the omicron virus variant.

The BA.2.86 variant is currently being tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

During an interview, Moderna’s head of infectious diseases Jacqueline Miller said: “We think this is news people will want to hear as they prepare to go out and get their fall boosters”. She added that the data should also help reassure regulators.

Well how reassuring that must be for everyone after all the previous lies….

MSN reports: The CDC has previously indicated that BA.2.86 may be more capable of causing infection in people who previously had COVID or were vaccinated with previous shots. The Omicron offshoot carries more than 35 mutations in key portions of the virus compared with XBB.1.5, the dominant variant through most of 2023 and the target of the updated shots.

Moderna said it had shared the new finding on its vaccine with regulators and submitted it for peer review publication. The retooled shot has yet to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but is expected to be available later this month or in early October.

The Massachusetts-based drugmaker and rival COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers Novavax and Pfizer with German partner BioNTech have created versions of their shots aimed at the XBB.1.5 subvariant.

Last month, Moderna and Pfizer each said their new vaccines appeared to be effective against another new subvariant of concern dubbed EG.5 in initial testing.

European regulators have since backed the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, with Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approving the vaccine on Tuesday, but have yet to make any announcements on Moderna’s updated vaccine.

BA.2.86 has now been detected in Switzerland and South Africa as well as Israel, Denmark, the U.S. and Britain according to a WHO official.

While it is important to monitor the variant, several experts told Reuters it is unlikely to cause a wave of severe disease and death because of immune defenses built up worldwide from mass vaccination and prior infection.