Moderna began trials of a vaccine from Omicron

Moderna announced that it has begun testing a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine specifically designed to fight the Omicron strain. A day earlier, Pfizer’s competitor Moderna began testing a similar version of its booster.

Moderna reported that a third dose of its conventional vaccine provides a high level of protection against the coronavirus, but that protection wanes six months after vaccination. The new booster is being tested on 300 adult volunteers, ages 18 and older.

Omicron is reported to be more virulent but causes a less severe course of COVID-19 than previous strains, but it has become dominant in many regions of the world-now causing 99.9% of COVID-19 cases in the United States.