Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, has announced that the American biotechnology company is working on the development of a unique vaccine that would be effective for COVID-19 and the flu at the same time and that, if all goes as expected, it could be available, in the best case, to be administered in the fall of 2023.
This new vaccine would consist of a single dose for both diseases and would be administered annually. In this way, it is intended to prevent people from having to be inoculated two or three times in winter, with the dose for COVID-19 and for the flu, in addition to preventing some people from rejecting vaccination because they consider it excessive in dose, because in last year many already have three of the coronavirus and one of the flu.
Universal vaccine against any mutation of the coronavirus
He also added that Moderna has been working since November on the clinical development of a vaccine that is specially aimed at combating the omicron variant. “The vaccine is running out, it should be in the next few weeks. We hope to have data in March to share with regulators to determine the next steps”, explained Bancel at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
With the single vaccine against COVID and flu, it is intended to prevent people from having to be inoculated two or three times in winter and avoid rejection of vaccines
As a result of this issue, Anthony Fauci, the United States Government’s main health adviser, has also stated at the World Economic Forum that the current idea in which booster doses are proposed every time a new variant of the virus emerges is not the optimal one and that work must be done to develop a universal vaccine that can be used against any mutation of SARS-CoV-2.
In addition, the CEO of Moderna has also indicated that the studies for the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) are in phase III, where it is tested in humans and that of the flu should enter this third stage in the second quarter of this year It will be then when they announce the results.
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