Moderna said on Wednesday that an early human trial data shows that a third dose of either its current COVID-19 shot or an experimental new vaccine candidate increases immunity against variants of COVID-19 first found in Brazil and South Africa, Reuters reports.
The booster shots, given to volunteers previously inoculated with Moderna’s two-dose vaccine regimen, also boosted antibodies against the original version of COVID-19, the company said.
The early data came from a 40-person trial testing both Moderna’s existing shot and a version developed to protect against the South African variant of COVID-19.
Moderna announced in February that it would begin testing a new version of its COVID-19 vaccine that was specifically designed to target the South African variant of the virus.
The company previously said it was confident its vaccine was effective against the new strains of coronavirus discovered in Britain and South Africa.