They will test third dose of anti-covid vaccine that resists variants of coronavirus

Dozens of people are receiving a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, this time with minor adjustments to combat a mutated version of the virus.

Vaccines currently available in the United States offer great protection. But new studies of experimental vaccine updates from Moderna and Pfizer represent a first step toward an alternative if the virus becomes resistant to today’s vaccines.

“You have to get ahead of the virus,” said Dr. Nadine Rouphael of Emory University, who is helping lead the study of the new version of Moderna. “We know what it’s like to be behind the virus.”

It is not clear if the protection offered by vaccines is going to be diluted, making new vaccines necessary, but, “realistically, we want covid to become just a cold.”

Viruses are constantly evolving, and there is already a more easily spreading variant that was initially detected in Britain around. Fortunately, it can be prevented with vaccines.

But it is feared that the first generation of vaccines will not be as effective against another variant that emerged in South Africa. All laboratories that produced vaccines are looking for ways to combat the B.1.351 virus if necessary. Experimental doses of Moderna and Pfizer are now being tested.

Emory University, outside of Atlanta, asked people who participated in the studies of the first vaccine to help with this update.

Volunteer Cole Smith said he didn’t have to think too much about it.

“The first was a great success and millions of people are being vaccinated,” Smith told the Associated Press. “If we help people with the first one, why not volunteer to help with this new vaccine?”

Researchers at Emory and three other medical centers are also recruiting volunteers who have not received any vaccine against COVID-19.

The goal is not just to determine if the third dose of Moderna works against the new variant of the virus. It is also about checking if two doses of the new vaccine would be enough. Or one of each vaccine. Or if you can combine the two vaccines into one.

The US Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer and its partner, the German laboratory BioNTech, to do similar experiments with their vaccine.

Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, like most vaccines in use around the world, train the body to recognize protein S from the outer shell of the coronavirus.

Mutations in viruses are common, but if too many are produced, they can escape an immune system designed to detect intruders.

The good news is that it is fairly easy to update Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

The studies released this month cover just a few hundred people, compared to the thousands used to test the original vaccines.

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