Moderna Begins Dosing With COVID-19 Variant Booster Shot

Moderna has begun dosing trial participants with a modified COVID-19 vaccine meant to target the variant SARS-Cov-2 strain first identified in South Africa.

The new dosing will occur as part of an ongoing phase 2 study, the Cambridge, Mass., drugmaker said, with the trial enrolling 60 participants who previously received a shot of Moderna’s standard messenger RNA-based COVID-19 vaccine.

Moderna said participants will receive either a booster targeted at the South African variant or the company’s new multivalent vaccine candidate that targets both the original coronavirus strain and the variant strain.