Moderna announced it is working on COVID-19 boosters in the fall that combine its original vaccine with protection against the omicron variant. Moderna’s ‘redesigned vaccine’ includes nine mutations found in the beta Covid variant so it offers more protection against Omicron.
As it stands now, all COVID-19 vaccines are based on the original version of the coronavirus. But the virus continues to mutate, each variant more contagious than the last.
As experts have pointed out, the problem with this approach is that the virus can — and most likely will — mutate again so both Moderna and Pfizer are both testing what are called “bivalent” shots — a mix of each company’s original vaccine and an omicron-targeted version.