Wash U physicians are studying COVID-19 variant-specific vaccines
A team of Washington University physicians are helping conduct a nationwide Moderna clinical trial to study the safety and effectiveness of an Omicron-specific vaccine to COVID-19.
The highly transmissible variant emerged in November and caused a surge of cases and hospitalizations in the St. Louis region and around the country.
Dr. Rachel Presti, who specializes in infectious diseases and leads the COVID-19 clinical trial team in St. Louis, said theyre working on the latest branch of an ongoing study to test whether tailored shots may better reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
Presti said the current vaccine still works well at preventing hospitalization and death, but with Omicron now making up nearly all COVID-19 cases around the country she said they want to test whether a new vaccine could reduce infections.
https://news.stlpublicradio.org/coronavirus/2022-02-14/wash-u-physicians-are-studying-covid-19-variant-specific-vaccines