Ino news Release Published on November 14, Moderna said the updated Omicron booster shot targeting the BA.4 and BA.5 variants produced higher levels of antibodies against those versions of the virus than its original dose.
Compared to Moderna’s original booster, the Omicron booster induced a 15.1-fold increase in antibody levels against the BA.4 and BA.5 variants in a study of 511 people who had already been vaccinated and boosted. Among these participants, subjects with no prior exposure to COVID-19 showed the strongest response, with levels of BA.4 and BA.5 antibodies approximately 26 times higher than previous levels of the booster. Those who had had a previous infection showed a 10-fold increase in these antibodies.
The findings are part of an ongoing study evaluating the booster vaccine, released by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized in August 2022 to Enhanced protection of people against variants BA.4 and BA.5. At the time, these variants combined accounted for almost all new infections in the country, but the rapidly evolving virus had already mutated to produce newer variants that had replace him them in domination. As of the first week of November, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 Combined, they caused 44.2% of new infections in the United States, while BA.5 and BA.4 accounted for 29.8% of cases.
Moderna scientists have also reported preliminary data on how well the BA.4 and BA.5 targeting enhancers are in neutralizing BQ.1. In studies in 40 people, the company said the bivalent booster also produced strong neutralizing antibodies against BQ.1, although these levels were five times lower than those generated against BA.4 and BA.5.
Read more: BQ.1, BQ.1.1, BF.7, and XBB: Why new COVID-19 variants have such confusing names
While the data is encouraging, the researchers caution that new variants may dominate the upcoming winter season, and that determining how well existing vaccines and boosters are at neutralizing these new versions of the virus will be critical to avoiding sudden increases and increased hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19. Indeed, some scholars did Documented Current vaccines and previous infections do not generate strong levels of neutralizing antibody responses against BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 and another variant prevalent in Singapore called XBB. As BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 become dominant in the United States, health officials will evaluate the quality of the BA.4 and BA.5 bivalent boosters made by both Moderna and Pfizer-Biwantech can stand up to them.
Moderna scientists also reported that a previous booster dose they developed, which targeted a previous variant, BA.1, also produced higher levels of antibodies that could neutralize BA.1, BA.4 and BA.5. This booster is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, which Request The company developed the BA.4 and BA.5 divalent enhancer instead. However, the divalent enhancer was BA.1 It is authorized in Canada and the United kingdom.
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