Moderna developing two-in-one booster shot for Covid-19 and flu

Moderna has announced that it is developing a single-dose vaccine to bring to the market that will combine a two-in-one booster shot that protects against both Covid-19 and flu.

On Thursday, drugmaker Moderna unveiled its latest innovation in the fight against Covid-19 – a “pan-respiratory annual booster vaccine” that combines a booster against Covid-19 and one against regular flu.

“Our number one priority as a company right now is to bring to market a pan-respiratory annual booster vaccine, which we plan to always customize and upgrade,” said CEO Stéphane Bancel.

Moderna is not the first to have announced the creation of a combined jab for Covid-19 and flu. American vaccine-maker Novavax announced on Wednesday that it has started an early stage trial in Australia to test its own two-in-one shot, having enrolled 640 healthy adult volunteers between the ages of 50 and 70.

Last week, Moderna submitted data to the European Medicines Agency for conditional approval for its Covid-19 vaccine to be used as a booster shot. Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration greenlighted top-up doses of mRNA vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna in mid-August for people with compromised immune systems.

Moderna’s two-dose Covid-19 vaccine boasts a high efficacy rate of 93% six months after the administration of its second shot, barely waning from the 94.5% protection reported during its phase-three clinical trials.

The pharma company also said that it is “making progress on enrolling patients in our rare disease programs, and we are fully enrolled in our personalized cancer vaccine trial.”

It also said its phase-two study of its authorized Covid-19 vaccine for children between 6 months and 12 years was ongoing. So far, the study is being carried out on 4,000 children between 6 and 12, while dosage selection studies are still underway for younger age groups.

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