Moderna Develops COVID-19 And Flu Booster Vaccines In One Injection

JAKARTA - Moderna is developing a booster vaccine by mixing the Covid-19 vaccine with the flu. This mixed vaccine can be used against the respiratory virus (RSV) and can be used as an annual shot.

Quoted from Reuters, Moderna already has several influenza vaccine candidates that are still being developed, one of which is a vaccine that combines flu and COVID-19 vaccines. Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel said, Moderna is currently conducting clinical trials of the RSV vaccine from a combination of the Covid-19 vaccine and flu vaccine for the elderly (elderly).

"We believe this is a great opportunity, if we succeed in making a vaccine against respiratory diseases with high efficacy," Bancel said as quoted on Saturday, September 11.

According to Oppenheimer & Co analyst Hartaj Singh, clinical trials of the combination vaccine are likely to last 6-12 months.

In addition to the combination of these vaccines, Moderna is also conducting clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccine for children. Moderna is also conducting a mid-stage clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 6 months to 11 years.

Moderna conducted studies with dose selection for different age groups such as 2 years to less than 6 years, and 6 months to under 2 years, are still ongoing. The test used an injection dose of 50 micrograms in a pediatric trial involving 4,000 children.

The Moderna vaccine received emergency use authorization for two 100-microgram doses for people 18 years of age and older in the US in December, currently being reviewed by the FDA for use in adolescents.