On Thursday, Moderna President Dr. Stephen Hoge reportedly told investors and analysts that it’s planning for a booster dose for its two-dose mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to combat the contagious delta variant in the coming months. The company also reported in a lengthy press release issued Thursday that the two-dose vaccine maintains 93 percent efficacy six months after the second dose.
In the press release, Moderna shared several announcements regarding the findings of studies on the current two-dose COVID-19 vaccine as well as insight regarding a booster vaccine in the future.
“We are pleased that our COVID-19 vaccine is showing durable efficacy of 93% through six months, but recognize that the Delta variant is a significant new threat so we must remain vigilant,” CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement published on Thursday. “We have begun preparing late stage studies for our flu vaccine and RSV vaccine, which received fast track designation from the FDA a few days ago and are looking forward towards our vision of a single dose annual booster that provides protection against COVID-19, flu and RSV for adults.”
An image circulating on Twitter, reportedly from Moderna, shows a breakdown of the company’s perspective on the trajectory of the pandemic in coming months. The “booster strategy” is the proposed solution to combat the intersection between the delta variant and seasonal changes, among other things, that may result in breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in vaccinated individuals.
Nonetheless, Moderna says it expects antibody levels will start to wane, and with delta there will be an increase in breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated; it sees need for boosters before winter: pic.twitter.com/aBHk5MFTaE
— Meg Tirrell (@megtirrell) August 5, 2021
“We believe that increased force of infection resulting from Delta, non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) fatigue, and seasonal effects (moving indoors) will lead to an increase of breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals,” the image states. “[W]e believe dose 3 booster will likely be necessary prior to the winter season.”
This news of a booster dose comes right after the World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for halting vaccine boosters until the end of September in favor of individuals in lower income countries who’ve not yet had access to the vaccine. However, Germany, France and Israel have already administered or plan to administer booster doses to qualifying individuals in the near future. As of right now, the United States does not have booster doses available for vaccinated individuals.