Moderna hopes to have a booster vaccine for the two-dose Covid vaccine available in the fall, CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC on Wednesday.
“I want to make sure that boost vaccines are available in the fall so that we can protect people as we enter the next fall and winter season in the United States,” Bancel said in an interview with Squawk Box.
Last month, the National Institutes of Health began testing a variety of offers from Moderna to be used as a third shot designed to boost immunity protection as concerns about emerging variants – including the first discovered in South Africa, also known as the B.1.351 variant.
The Food and Drug Administration’s approach to authorizing modified Covid vaccines is similar to that of annual influenza vaccines, which means that they could be eliminated for emergency use without lengthy clinical trials.
Moderna, Massachusetts, hopes to send data to regulators in a few months, Bancel added. “Our goal is to work hard to prepare for this before the fall,” he reiterated.
Bancel’s comments came a day after Moderna announced that the existing vaccine was more than 90% effective in protecting against Covid for up to six months after the second dose. It was more than 95% effective against severe diseases in the same time frame, the biotechnology company said in its update, which could bring it closer to obtaining full regulatory approval.
There are currently 453 reported cases involving variant B.1.351, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This option has been of particular concern to public health experts. It has been shown to reduce the effectiveness of existing Covid vaccines, including from Moderna.
Bancel reiterated on Wednesday his belief that annual recalls for the Covid vaccine will be common in the future, saying the coronavirus “does not go away” and “does not leave the planet.”
“I’m expecting something like this next year, we’ll see a lot of variants. But as more and more people get vaccinated or get infected naturally, the rate of the variant will slow down and the virus will stabilize. Just like you see with the flu.” said Bancel.
Finally, he added, Moderna hopes to have a kind of two-in-one vaccine that protects against seasonal flu and Covid. The company announced in September its intentions to make a flu vaccine.
“What we’re trying to do at Moderna is actually try to get a flu shot in the clinic this year and then combine the flu shot with our Covid vaccine, so all you have to do is get a boost at your local CVS store.” “Every year that will protect you from the worry of Covid and the seasonal flu strain,” Bancel said.
“We believe we can get a high-effective flu vaccine,” he added. In a given year, current flu vaccines are about 40% to 60% effective, according to the CDC.
Bancel also weighed on U.S. regulators, who on Tuesday recommended that states stop using the Johnson & Johnson single-injection Covid vaccine after concerns about rare but severe blood clots in recipients.
The measure shows that “the FDA will not hesitate to be very careful to analyze the data, to take the time necessary to do so, to protect the safety of the American people,” he said, arguing that the way regulators manages the J&J situation would reduce the hesitation of the vaccine and not increase it.