WEST VIRGINIA (WOAY) – As up to 95 million Covid-19 cases have ravaged the U.S, with nearly 600,000 of them coming out of West Virginia, vaccine updates remain a necessary factor. Plus, the different variants and subvariants of the virus make getting a vaccine booster a crucial matter.
Omicron remains one of the most prevalent of those strains, as more than 88% of its BA.5 variant cases have swept the country since August. But, the Chief Medical Officer at Moderna, Dr. Paul Burton met with the media to discuss how the company’s new vaccine update is providing even more protection.
“Our updated vaccine I think really is a big step forward,” says Burton. “The virus that causes Covid has moved on, and our original spike vax vaccine, which was extremely effective against the original virus, but we now need an updated vaccine and that’s what we have been able to produce.”
With the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of authorization of the updated vaccine, it will provide a new layer of protection that’s relevant to the strains currently going around.
Not only will it protect against the BA.5 variant but the previous BA.4, as well.
It’s a 50-50 mix of the original vaccine and Messenger RNA from the new strain. Burton says it’s important to consider getting as Covid continues to change.
“This is a virus that continues to mutate, we see cases going up right now in Europe, even cases rising again here and that will probably continue as we go into the winter,” he says. “But we now have a chance to get an updated vaccine that’s directed against the virus that is circulating today.”
Burton says that as the winter season steadily approaches, now is the best time to consider getting this booster. Anyone over the age of 18 is now eligible to receive it.
