Moderna said on Thursday that initial trial data showed its updated COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the “Eris” and “Fornax” subvariants in humans.
The company expects the updated injection, pending approval by health authorities in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, to be available for the fall vaccination season in the coming weeks.
Moderna and other COVID-19 vaccine makers Novavax, Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE have created versions of their vaccines targeting the XBB.1.5 subvariant.
Earlier on Thursday, Pfizer reported that its updated COVID-19 vaccine, co-developed with BioNTech, showed neutralizing activity against the Eris subvariant in a mouse study.
Eris, the nickname for EG.5, resembles the subvariant XBB.1.5 and is a substrain of the still dominant variant Omicron.
EG.5 was responsible for approximately more than 17% of COVID-19 cases in the US, according to the latest government data. Infections from Fornax, officially known as FL 1.5.1, are also on the rise across the country.
COVID-19 related hospitalizations in the US are up more than 40% from the lows of June, but are still more than 90% below the peak levels reached during the Omicron outbreak in January 2022.
The World Health Organization has classified EG.5 as a “variant of concern”, indicating that it should be watched more closely than other variants due to mutations that can make it more contagious or serious. (Reporting by Pratik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
2023-08-17 21:53:59
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