Moderna designs updated Covid-19 vaccine to combat South Africa coronavirus variant
From CNN s John Bonifield
Moderna has designed an updated version of its Covid-19 vaccine to help it combat the South Africa coronavirus variant, the company announced Wednesday.
Initial doses have been shipped to the US National Institutes of Health for a clinical study.
The new vaccine, called mRNA-1273.351, will be evaluated as a booster shot for people who have already been vaccinated against coronavirus and as a primary vaccine for people who haven t had coronavirus and have yet to be vaccinated.
Moderna said it will also evaluate a multivalent booster shot that combines the new vaccine formulation with the current vaccine.
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An employee works behind a window with a message taped to it at Pfizer Manufacturing in Puurs, Belgium on February 25, 2021. (Virginia Mayo/AP)
WASHINGTON Pfizer and BioNTech said Thursday they are studying adding a third dose to their vaccine regime and testing a new version targeting the South African variant of the coronavirus.
As countries around the world rush to vaccinate people, concerns have risen that more transmissible variants such as the one first detected in South Africa or another in Britain are more resistant to existing vaccines.
In one study, the US and German pharmaceutical firms said they would look at what happens when people are given a third dose of their two-shot vaccine, six to 12 months after the booster.
The Boston-based biotech has already shipped the raw materials to the US National Institutes of Health, which helped the firm study its first jab, to start human trials.
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Dan Carucci becomes global chief medical officer of McCann Health
Carucci initially joined McCann in February 2018 as medical director
McCann Health has promoted Dan Carucci (pictured above) to the role of global chief medical officer, from his previous role as medical director.
Carucci joined McCann Health in February 2018, and has worked across nearly all aspects of the business during this time.
He is also a physician and molecular biologist with over 30 years of experience managing large and complex health programmes.
Previously, he was appointed as the first director of the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative, a programme for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.