Moderna aims for Fall release for omicron, variant-specific COVID-19 vaccine boosters

Fox News

Moderna has set a broad timeline to deliver a variant-specific COVID-19 vaccine booster just days after asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for authorization to use its vaccine for children.

"We announced a couple weeks ago a new, variant-specific booster that we’ve been testing, and we have an additional candidate, our lead candidate, in testing now that I believe is going to be even more superior," Moderna Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton said during an appearance on "Face the Nation."

"We are confident that by the fall of this year, we should have large amounts of that new booster vaccine that will protect against omicron and other variants, and really protect Americans and people around the world as we go into the fall of 2022."

The FDA set a deadline of June for drug manufacturers to submit a formula for variant-specific vaccines. Doses of modified vaccines could cost the U.S. government between $5 billion and $12 billion, The New York Times reported.

Moderna’s timeline could allow them to meet that deadline, should testing run smoothly and not uncover any issues in the current formulation. ...