New Delhi, India

Pfizer and BioNTech said that the updated version of their COVID-19 vaccine has shown a higher immune response against the Omicron variant. According to the statement, which was released on Saturday, the booster shot which was modified specifically to combat the variant has been showing better results. The statement came just days ahead of the meeting of advisors to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) where they will be deciding whether to approve the updated vaccines. With most of the COVID-19 cases happening due to the Omicron variant, Reuters reports that experts believe that the updated shots can be adopted to decrease the infection rate.

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Pfizer and BioNTech tested the updated vaccines on a group of 1234 people who were aged 56 years or older. The 30-microgram doses showed a 13.5-fold increase when it comes to fighting the Omicron variant. On the other hand, the 60-microgram dose showed a 19.6-fold increase.

They also tried out a variation of the vaccine where it contained both the updated and the original doses which showed a 9.1 and 10.9-fold increase when it comes to the two different doses.

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According to the Reuters report, the companies claimed that the updated dose was successfully able to combat the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants but it is still most effective against BA.1.

The Reuters report also claimed that Moderna are also designing an updated version of their virus which targets the BA.1 Omicron subvariant. The company expressed its happiness with the progress of the project and said that they will soon be submitted it to the authorities for approval.