The American biotech company Moderna announced that it should be ready to make the first shipments of the 1273.214 mRNA vaccine at the end of the summer.
This vaccine is born from the combination of the classic vaccine with the updated version on Omicron. Preliminary data indicate robust production of neutralizing antibodies against Omicron and its sub-variants (BA.4 / BA.5).
Modern Booster Updated Against Omicron: What We Should Expect
by Aureliano Stingi
We know that the latest sub-variants of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 are characterized by a high immuno-evasive capacity and in fact are able to infect both vaccinated subjects and those recovered even by Omicron itself.
The fact that Moderna mRNA 1273.214 bivalent vaccine is able to generate a strong immune response against BA.4 / 5 is excellent news and also bodes well that it will also protect us from potential future variants.
Furthermore, the bivalent vaccine would be administered in a population that is now largely cured or vaccinated, therefore the immune response induced by the new vaccine would enhance the one already present.
The strategy of updating vaccines once a year has been used for many years to fight the flu: why is it not so simple for Covid19?
The flu vaccine is updated once a year and is based on the version circulating in the hemisphere where it is winter. In fact, through the active surveillance of the variants circulating in the various parts of the world, scientists are able to predict the potential viral evolution and therefore to start the production of the vaccine in March and make it available around October.
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Why can’t the same protocol be applied to Covid19?
There are a number of differences between Covid19 and influenza that prevent, for the moment, from applying the same vaccine production protocol:
- There is a significant difference in contagiousness between flu and Covid19, in fact Covid19 is much more contagious and spreads much faster than flu
- Influenza unlike Covid19 is a seasonal virus that circulates mainly in winter
- The presence of immune memory: the flu virus has been around for hundreds of years and people come into contact with it many times over a lifetime
- Creating and approving a flu vaccine are much more standardized and faster processes than Covid vaccines19
As we have seen a series of differences prevent for the moment to easily produce an updated vaccine against Covid19, nevertheless in the coming years our understanding of the disease and the standardization of the processes could reach a level such as to be able to apply exactly the same protocol for the two diseases.
TAKE HOME MESSAGE:
- Moderna is ready to produce its bivalent vaccine against Omicron and its sub-variants by the end of the summer
- Preliminary data on the 1273.214 bivalent mRNA vaccine are extremely promising
- Currently, the differences between influenza and Covid19 prevent us from having an annual updated vaccine production protocol
- In the future we can imagine managing Covid19 in a similar way to seasonal flu
REF:
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/moderna-ceo-covid-variant-vaccine-be-ready-shipping-august-2022-06-22/
https://investors.modernatx.com/news/news-details/2022/Moderna-Announces-Bivalent-Booster-mRNA-1273.214-Demonstrates-Potent-Neutralizing-Antibody-Response-Against-Omicron-Subvariants-BA.4-And-BA.5/default.aspx
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2843114/