“The dramatic increase in Covid-19 cases from the Omicron variant is concerning to all. However, these data showing that the currently authorized Moderna COVID-19 booster can boost neutralizing antibody levels 37-fold higher than pre-boost levels are reassuring,” Bancel said.
The Biden administration has been promoting boosters as a key tool to flattening winter surges of Covid-19 and possible hospitalizations but is encountering public confusion over how well vaccines protect people from getting sick and questions about the wisdom of broadly boosting young and healthy Americans.
Nearly 70 percent of U.S. adults have yet to receive boosters in the two-and-a-half months that they’ve been available, and the daily pace of boosters is only just now nearing the 1 million mark.
The Food and Drug Administration last month cleared both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 booster shots for all adults after initially limiting doses to adults over 65, those with high exposure to Covid-19 and high-risk patients.
Moderna and other vaccine manufacturers continue to reference antibody response as a sign that people have built a level of immunity against the coronavirus. But regulators still aren’t entirely sure what is the best yardstick to measure how well — and how long — the shots work.