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Moderna says new booster candidate effective against omicron subvariants

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="This picture shows a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, in a Red Cross medical tent in Petrinja, Croatia on Dec. 29, 2020. Damir Sencar, AFP/File " src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/overseas/06/23/20210113-coronavirus-vaccine-afp-734.jpg"/><figcaption>This picture shows a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, in a Red Cross medical tent in Petrinja, Croatia on Dec. 29, 2020. <em>Damir Sencar, AFP/File </em></figcaption></figure></div><p>WASHINGTON — Moderna on Wednesday said its new COVID booster candidate, which it is hoping to get approved this fall, performed well against omicron&#x27;s latest subvariants.</p><p>The US biotech company announced earlier this month that the so-called &quot;bivalent&quot; vaccine, which targets the original COVID strain and original omicron BA.1, performed better against both compared to its original COVID vaccine called Spikevax.</p><p>In new results from a clinical study, the company said that the booster also did well against BA.4 and BA.5, omicron&#x27;s latest subvariants that are becoming dominant thanks to their increased ability to evade prior immunity, and enhanced transmissibility.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/18/22/mrna-vaccine-effect-vs-omicron-halved-after-3-months">Effect of mRNA vaccines vs omicron halved after 3 months: expert</a></li></ul><p>The bivalent booster elicited high levels of infection-blocking antibodies against BA.4 and BA.5 both in people who were previously infected and those not previously infected.</p><p>However even those high levels were still one third the levels achieved against the original omicron strain, BA.1</p><p>&quot;We will submit these data to regulators urgently and are preparing to supply our next generation bivalent booster starting in August, ahead of a potential rise in SARS-CoV-2 infections due to Omicron subvariants in the early fall,&quot; said Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel in a statement.</p><p>The BA.4 and BA.5 variants hammered South Africa, where they were first discovered, in April and May -- despite high population immunity conferred by prior waves and vaccinations.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/22/22/philippines-detects-32-more-omicron-ba5-cases-doh">Philippines detects 32 more omicron BA.5 cases: health dept</a></li></ul><p>Like other omicron variants they tend to have a milder disease course as they settle less in the lungs and more in the upper nasal passages, causing symptoms like fever, tiredness and loss of smell.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO </strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2040338" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Moderna said its new COVID booster candidate, which it is hoping to get approved this fall, performed well against omicron's latest subvariants.