Moderna aims to deliver Omicron Covid-19 vaccine by September

Moderna has begun human trials of its Omicron vaccine, which it expects to deliver by the end of September, subject to regulatory approval.

Moderna Australia and New Zealand general manager Michael Azrak with Scott Morrison. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

A Covid-19 booster shot, targeted specifically at the Omicron variant, is expected to be delivered by September, Moderna has revealed as it advances human trials.

The company said it had developed an Omicron-specific vaccine candidate within 63 days of the variant being first detected in South Africa, and it had already been injected into a patient as part of phase 2 clinical trials.

The speed at which Moderna has developed the Omicron jab gives it hope that it will be able to successfully target further strains of Covid-19. It comes after the World Health Organisation this week warned that Omicron would not be the last Covid-19 mutation.

Australia will play a key role in developing further pandemic-busting vaccines after Moderna struck a deal with the federal government to build a factory capable of producing up to 100 million jabs a year, in Australia, edging out CSL.

After reaching an in-principle agreement with the federal government before Christmas, Moderna is now finalising the details of the facility which will be built in Melbourne, with production scheduled to begin in 2024. The factory will also feature research and development capabilities.

While the Omicron wave is expected to subside in the next month and the WHO says the acute phase of the pandemic could end this year, it also warned that Covid-19 will not disappear and vaccines and testing will play a crucial role in taming the virus.

Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel said its original Covid-19 vaccine – which is part of Australia’s immunisation program and available at pharmacies – generated neutralising antibodies in all trial participants against Omicron after three shots, but those levels declined after six months.

“We are reassured by the antibody persistence against Omicron at six months,” he said. “Nonetheless, given the long-term threat demonstrated by Omicron’s immune escape, we are advancing our Omicron-specific variant vaccine booster candidate and we are pleased to begin this part of our phase 2 study.”

The company expects to enrol 300 participants into its study, which will target adults aged 18 years and older.

Moderna’s general manager of Australia and New Zealand, ­Michael Azrak, said if the trials perform as expected and the company gains regulatory approval, the Omicron boosters would be ready for distribution in the third quarter of this year.

He said the jab could also form part of a super vaccine, which targets three respiratory conditions: Covid-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which the Australian facility would be designed to potentially produce.

“Our hope down the track is to really have a … respiratory vaccine where in the one shot you could have Covid, flu and RSV for our most at risk populations,” Mr Azrak said. “But the broader ­potential of a local manufacturing plant is to also partner with the regulators and health authorities, and if there are locally emergent strains of flu of another pathogen, the ability to have a specific local product delivered from that plant is significant. It was only 63 days ago when Omicron was first identified and detected and to see us have a vaccine candidate already in clinic in such a short period of time really does show the power of mRNA sites when it comes to respiratory vaccines.”