Coronavirus is continuing to mutate and evolve and so the scientists working on it are also evolving weapons to fight the virus. A new deadly variant of COVID-19 virus named B.1.351 has been in headlines after it was found in South Africa for being an evolved dangerous virus.
The variant is very hazardous as it performs to invade the immune protections generated by vaccines or natural COVID-19 infections and make the body miserable. So now the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has collaborated with Moderna Inc. to test a new kind of weapon named booster which will trigger the immune system of the body to recognize and attack the variant. The trial phase 1 will be done in 210 adults to make sure that it is safe and effective.
Moderna said about the booster, “A booster dose of an authorized vaccine represents the only currently available strategy for boosting waning immunity.”
The director of the vaccine research center at the NIAID, John Mascola has opened up about the trials, “The mutations are just in the right place on the surface of the viral protein and cause some antibodies to not ‘see’ that protein.” He added, “These studies are being conducted to answer the question of whether a booster vaccine will induce a broader immune response.”
Pfizer and BioNTech have asked the authorities to provide more information about the variants so that they can develop effective vaccines in a short period of time. The new vaccine and booster would be totally different as it will deliver the instructions for producing a spike protein instead of providing instructions for making the spike protein that was present on the original strain of SARS-CoV-2.
