Moderna announced on Wednesday that it is set to begin testing a new version of its COVID-19 vaccine that was specifically designed to target an emerging variant of the coronavirus that was first reported in South Africa, NBC News reported.
The company said that it has shipped doses of its variant-specific booster shot to the US National Institutes of Health for clinical trials. This development is part of Moderna's efforts to counter strains of the coronavirus that are circulating and to get ahead of the constantly mutating virus.
"Moderna is committed to making as many updates to our vaccine as necessary until the pandemic is under control," Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement.
There is no evidence yet to suggest that the coronavirus has mutated in a way that makes it able to evade the existing vaccines, but that prospect remains a serious concern for scientists around the world.
Moderna said last month that lab studies had showed that its COVID-19 vaccine would remain protective against variants of the coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa, but added that out of caution, it will test adding a second booster of its vaccine specifically for the South African variant.
The company has previously said it was confident its vaccine was effective against the new strains of coronavirus discovered in Britain and South Africa.