On Thursday, Moderna said it is developing a single-dose booster shot to protect against COVID-19 and the seasonal flu.
According to Reuters, Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel told investors, “Our number one priority as a company right now is to bring to market a Pan-respiratory annual booster vaccine, which we plan to always customize and upgrade.”
The company didn’t say when the third shot, named mRNA-1073, would be developed, researched, or released, but the new dose will combine the current Moderna coronavirus vaccine with a flu shot.
Moderna also revealed that they are currently in the mid-stage trial for vaccination usage on children aged six months to under 12 years old, including a range of additional new initiatives and updates.
As part of the pediatric trial, Moderna has planned to test 50 micrograms of the vaccine on 4,000 children.
“Today we are announcing the first step in our novel respiratory vaccine program with the development of a single dose vaccine that combines a booster against COVID-19 and a booster against flu,” Bancel said in a statement Thursday.
Moderna’s stock price surged after the statement on Thursday, which came a day after Novavax, a Maryland-based biotechnology company, announced that it had begun an early-stage study to test a combination flu and COVID-19 booster shot.
The White House stated last month that the third injections will be available to Moderna and Pfizer recipients starting the week of Sept. 20 — but the FDA has cautioned that Moderna’s boosters are unlikely to be ready in time.
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