Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine Targeting Omicron Produces Stronger Immune Response

Experimental vaccine, designed to fight Omicron and original virus, found to be more effective against new variant than current shot

The Omicron variant has evaded some of the protection conferred by Moderna’s original vaccine.PHOTO: EUGENE HOSHIKO/ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Peter Loftus

June 8, 2022 7:00 am ET

Moderna Inc. said a modified Covid-19 booster shot provided a stronger immune response than the company’s original vaccine against the Omicron variant in a new study.

The Cambridge, Mass., company said Wednesday it will submit preliminary data from the study to U.S. health regulators in the coming weeks with the hope of making the modified booster shot available in late summer.

Researchers found that the levels of neutralizing antibodies against Omicron among people getting the modified shot were 1.75 times higher than in people who received a booster shot of the original vaccine, Moderna said.

“I think the data clearly show this is a superior booster,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said in an interview.

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The study didn’t measure the efficacy of the modified booster shot—whether it actually reduces the risk of Covid-19 disease caused by Omicron. The company disclosed the results in a press release. The data haven’t been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

Moderna’s modified, “bivalent” booster shot was designed to target in a single shot both the Omicron variant and the original coronavirus strain. The company’s original vaccine, Spikevax, was designed to target the original coronavirus, both as a two-dose primary series and as a booster shot.

Yet the Omicron variant, which began spreading rapidly late last year and is now the dominant strain, has been able to evade some of the protection conferred by the original vaccine because of mutations in a surface protein targeted by the shot.

In response, Moderna and other vaccine makers including Pfizer Inc. have developed new shots that may better target Omicron and other variants.

U.S. health officials are considering whether modified booster shots targeting variants should be used for a fall vaccination drive. Data from studies like Moderna’s will be crucial to the officials’ decision making.

Pfizer and its partner BioNTech SE are also expected to soon release study results on their Omicron-targeting shot.

Moderna said its bivalent vaccine could be used for a fall booster campaign that would potentially give people protection through the winter.

“It’s time to update the vaccines to reflect the virus as it is today,” Mr. Hoge said.

Moderna began testing the bivalent booster shot, code-named mRNA-1273.214, in an ongoing study in March. Some 437 people, who had already received a two-dose primary series and the original booster shot, were given the bivalent shot. Researchers measured their immune-system antibody responses against the Omicron variant one month later.

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In addition to finding greater neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron, the study also found that the bivalent shot boosted antibodies against the original strain to higher levels than the original vaccine.

Moderna expects to report in the summer how the antibody levels are holding up in people three months after getting the bivalent booster.

Moderna said the bivalent vaccine had a similar set of side effects as the original booster shot.

The company has already started manufacturing doses of the modified booster and should be able to meet demand if it becomes available for a booster campaign in the fall, Mr. Hoge said.

Moderna also has studied a booster shot that targets only the Omicron variant. But the company concluded that a bivalent shot could offer broader protection against Omicron and other potential circulating variants.

 YAHOO / USA TODAY

'Keep your guard up': CDC studies show waning COVID-19 vaccine efficacy as delta variant sweeps US

Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY

Wed, August 25, 2021, 11:54 AM

Immunity to COVID-19 from vaccines might be declining over time as the highly contagious delta variant surges across the country, according to new research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A study released Tuesday showed vaccine effectiveness decreased among health care workers who were fully vaccinated since the time the delta variant became widespread, which could be due to the waning effectiveness of the vaccine over time, the higher transmissibility of the delta variant, or other factors, experts said.

The CDC said the trend should also be “interpreted with caution” because a decline in vaccine effectiveness could be due to “poor precision in estimates due to limited number of weeks of observation and few infections among participants.”

A second study found about a quarter of COVID-19 cases between May and July in Los Angeles were breakthrough cases, but that hospitalizations were significantly lower for those who had been vaccinated. Unvaccinated people were more than 29 times more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated people, and about five times more likely to be infected.

The studies show the importance of being fully vaccinated because the benefit of being vaccinated when it comes to hospitalization did not decline even with the recent wave, Dr. Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine and vice president for research at the Scripps Research Institute, told USA TODAY.

"If you take these two studies together, and everything else that’s been reported… you see consistent attrition of protection with people who are fully vaccinated," he said. "But the benefit of vaccination is still there despite the breakthrough infections because hospitalizations are really markedly protected."

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The research comes as the Food and Drug Administration has given its full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, and soon after the agency and the CDC recommended a third vaccine dose to those who have compromised immune systems. A booster shot is expected to be available to fully vaccinated Americans who got their second dose at least eight months prior beginning on Sept. 20, according to the White House.

That’s too long to wait, Topol said. Based on the research, Topol said immunity may begin to go down at around the five- or six-month mark, leaving vaccinated people more vulnerable to infection.

Justin Bishop, 13, receives the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on May 14, 2021, at the Mount Sinai South Nassau Vaxmobile in Freeport, N.Y.

"If you wait until eight months, you’re two or three months vulnerable while delta is circulating. Whatever you’re doing in life, unless you live in a cave, you're getting incremental exposures," Topol said.

The study among health care personnel and other front-line workers was conducted in eight locations across six states beginning in December 2020 and ending Aug. 14. The research shows vaccine effectiveness was 91% before the dominance of the delta variant, and it has since dropped to 66%.

Topol said he doesn’t believe the decline in effectiveness can be solely attributed to waning immunity over time but has a lot to do with the delta variant’s contagious nature. Other factors, such as laxed mitigation measures – relaxation of masking and distancing – could contribute, but are harder to quantify.

No, a vaccine doesn't make you 'Superman': Breakthrough COVID-19 cases are increasing amid delta variant.

“Although these interim findings suggest a moderate reduction in the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing infection, the sustained two-thirds reduction in infection risk underscores the continued importance and benefits of COVID-19 vaccination,” the CDC said.

Topol said the research underscores the need for vaccines for all, but also the need to protect vaccinated people. The delta wave will pass eventually, but even those who are fully vaccinated need to “keep your guard up,” he said.

“We’re not getting the word out enough that people who have been vaccinated are not protected as much as they think. They need to mask up, they need to do everything they can. Make-believe that there wasn't a vaccine," he said.

What To Make Of The Yankees Outbreak? Scientists Say: Don't Panic, We Expected This

 NPR

BECKY SULLIVAN

The New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone, 

Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

Eight members of the New York Yankees — the team's All-Star shortstop Gleyber Torres, along with seven coaches and staff members — have tested positive for the coronavirus this week, even though all of them had been vaccinated.

The outbreak of so-called breakthrough cases was first detected Sunday as the team was flying to Florida for a series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Seven more people, including Torres, tested positive over the three subsequent days.

Of the eight positive cases, the Yankees said, seven are asymptomatic. One person has reported "some symptoms," according to the team.

No new cases were reported Thursday, though the Yankees are continuing with daily testing and contact tracing.

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CDC Studies 'Breakthrough' COVID Cases Among People Already Vaccinated

Scientists have stressed that the team's cases are in line with what is already known about the vaccines. "Vaccine breakthrough cases are expected," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its information page about breakthrough cases. The agency says at least 9,245 breakthrough infections have been documented, out of the 95 million Americans who completed their vaccination course at least two weeks ago.

"A lot of people may be wondering, with 8 vaccinated breakthrough cases on the Yankees — is this evidence the vaccines aren't as effective as we thought?" Zach Binney, an epidemiologist at Emory University, wrote on Twitter. "The short answer is no."

"We know that these vaccines are really good, but they're not 100% protective against all infection," said Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health. "They are way more protective against the consequences of that infection, like hospitalization or death."

Here's what else to know about the Yankees outbreak:

This number of breakthrough infections is in line with what scientists know about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

All of the positive cases on the Yankees had been vaccinated with the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which baseball teams favored because of their complicated travel schedules. According to the team, players and staff were offered the vaccine together on April 7.

In clinical trials, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 100% effective in preventing hospitalization and death. When it came to preventing any type of COVID-19 infection, the vaccine was 66% to 72% effective.

"That means there will be a gap in the protection, in the sense that there will be some people who will get infected," Omer said. "But the reassuring part is that these cases were not severe."

Scientists said that given the size of the team's traveling party, it's likely a smaller number of people got infected than would have been expected otherwise. And the number of cases is in line with what we know about the vaccine's efficacy.

Though the CDC is not currently investigating the outbreak, the agency's director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, told reporters at a White House briefing Thursday officials hoped to learn more.

"We will look to more data from that report to understand what happened there," she said. "All of the real-world data we've seen that's been in the published literature, large studies, in many different settings, have demonstrated that those vaccines are effective, have a high effectiveness against disease."

Also in line with expectations: Most of the breakthrough cases are asymptomatic.

Of the eight cases in the Yankees outbreak, seven are asymptomatic. The one symptomatic case is reportedly mild.

All of the coronavirus vaccines that have been authorized for use in the U.S., including the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, are extremely effective at preventing severe cases of the disease, hospitalization and death.

"The vaccines are good at preventing infection and transmission, but they are f'ing RAD at preventing severe disease," Binney said on Twitter. "They're like a strong wind in from the outfield — [home runs] become doubles, doubles become outs."

"I think one of the things we're seeing is that being vaccinated en masse like we are, we're seeing the vaccinations also kind of blunt the effects of the virus," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, speaking to reporters ahead of the team's Wednesday game.

Those asymptomatic cases were discovered in part because MLB players and staff are tested much more often than the general population.

The MLB conducts thousands of tests every week on players, coaches and staff. During the past week, the league ran 10,629 tests, only 10 of which were positive, coinciding with the Yankees' outbreak.

The Yankees discovered their first positive case on Sunday as the team was flying to Tampa for a series against the Rays.

Afterward, they immediately began testing their entire traveling party, which The New York Times reported to be about 50 or 60 people, three times per day — one PCR test, one saliva test and one rapid test.

Most Americans only seek tests if they are showing symptoms of a possible COVID-19 infection. There are currently fewer than 1 million tests conducted each day in the U.S., meaning on any given day, only 1 in 330 Americans is getting a test.

The Yankees were working and traveling together in close quarters without masks or other preventive measures.

As an incentive for teams to vaccinate as many people as possible, the MLB and its players union agreed to relax some coronavirus-related protocols if teams are able to vaccinate 85% of their players and certain staff.

The Yankees are one of a dozen teams that have reached that threshold, according to the league, and four more will join them once two weeks have elapsed since their last shot.

That means Yankees players and staff did not have to wear masks while gathering together in the clubhouse or training rooms. They were also allowed to dine at indoor restaurants and share club facilities such as saunas and entertainment rooms.

In light of the outbreak, the team has since readopted many of those preventive measures, according to Boone.

"We'll mask back up. We'll keep our distance," Yankees pitcher Jameson Taillon said Wednesday. "We'll do whatever we have to do to get this season in."

 

More Than Half Of U.S. Adults Have Gotten At Least One COVID-19 Vaccine Dose

 NPR

MATTHEW S. SCHWARTZ

A nurse administers the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

After a year of grim milestones, Sunday marked a hopeful statistic in America's fight against the coronavirus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of all American adults have now gotten at least one vaccine dose.

After months of limited vaccine availability, every adult in the country will be eligible to sign up for vaccination on Monday. The only remaining states still with certain adult age restrictions — Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont — will open vaccine registration to all people age 16 and older, meeting a federal deadline for all adults to be eligible set earlier this month.

About 130 million adults have gotten at least one vaccine dose, the CDC reported Sunday. And 84 million, or about a third of all adults, are fully vaccinated. (The CDC considers people "fully vaccinated" if they have received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.) The U.S. has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. [We did something right-Esco]

 

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How Is The COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign Going In Your State?

Within the U.S., New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Mexico report the highest percentage of population who have received at least one dose, according to NPR's vaccination tracker.

Most of the states with the highest vaccination rates have historically voted Democratic in presidential elections, with the exception of South Dakota.

On the flip side, many of the states reporting the lowest rates of people receiving at least one dose of vaccine are traditionally Republican voting.

The vaccination trend is not absolute — it does not hold for the percentage of adults who are fully vaccinated, for example, where Republican Alaska leads.

Still, more than 40% of Republicans say they don't want to get the vaccine, according to a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday. "Much of this reluctance is really ingrained in partisan identity," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Speaking to CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he was frustrated by the partisan divide, which he believes is fueled by comments by Republican leaders like Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who accused Fauci last week of promoting pandemic guidelines that violate Americans' freedoms.

"It is quite frustrating because the fact that one may not want to get vaccinated, in this case a disturbingly large proportion of Republicans, only actually works against where they want to be," Fauci told CNN.

"On the one hand, they want to be relieved of the restrictions. But on the other hand, they don't want to get vaccinated," Fauci said. "It just almost doesn't make any sense."

There's also been a disparity in vaccinations by gender. Close to 60% of people who have been vaccinated are women, compared to about 40% men, according to Kaiser Health News. "Women are more likely to seek preventive care in general," reporter Laura Ungar told NPR's Weekend Edition.

"Also, women are more likely to take on the role of arranging health care for the family," she said. "So they may be more able to kind of navigate the health system."