Moderna and Pfizer are testing their COVID-19 vaccines against variants of the novel coronavirus, the drugmakers announced Feb. 24 and Feb. 25, respectively.
Moderna said it manufactured clinical trial material for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate designed specifically to target B.1.351, the coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa, and shipped doses to the National Institutes of Health for a phase 1 study.
Moderna will study three approaches to boosting: a variant-specific booster vaccine candidate, a booster vaccine candidate that combines the drugmaker's original COVID-19 vaccine with its variant-specific vaccine candidate, and a third dose of the original vaccine.
Pfizer will draw upon its earlier COVID-19 vaccine trial's participants, who will receive a third shot 6 to 12 months after receiving their initial two doses. The drugmaker also said it is in discussion with the FDA and other regulatory authorities about conducting a clinical trial to evaluate a variant-specific vaccine candidate.
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