Moderna Says New COVID Booster Protects Against Omicron
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Getty A person getting vaccinated
Moderna will seek authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its new "bivalent" booster shot.
On Wednesday, the pharmaceutical company announced that the COVID booster — which targets both omicron and the original virus strain — will be its "lead candidate" for the fall.
According to preliminary data released by Moderna, the new booster shot caused an eightfold increase in neutralizing antibody levels while still being effective against other variants of concern.
RELATED: Moderna Says Its Redesigned COVID Booster Provides Better Protection Against Several Variants
Moderna President Stephen Hoge said he expects the updated shot to be more effective than the company's existing booster.
"We're pretty confident this vaccine is going to provide a benefit even against the family of omicron subvariants," he told reporters, per The Washington Post.
Two subvariants of the omicron variant now make up about 13 percent of new coronavirus cases in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.
RELATED VIDEO: Jeff Bridges Says He Was 'Pretty Close to Dying' from COVID While in Chemo for Cancer
RELATED: What to Know Now About COVID as It Surges Again: 'These Case Numbers Are a Severe Undercount'
The updated shot, called mRNA-1273.214, was "well-tolerated" when compared with side effects similar to those from the original booster shot, according to the company.
"We are thrilled to share the preliminary data analysis on mRNA-1273.214, which is the second demonstration of superiority of our bivalent booster platform against variants of concern and represents an innovation in the fight against COVID," said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna, said.
RELATED: U.S. COVID Cases Are 5 Times Higher Now Than Last Memorial Day Weekend
News of the new booster comes as cases of COVID-19 continue to surge with more than 108,000 new cases in the U.S. over the last seven days.
