Moderna Eyeing COVID Booster Shot To Be Ready By Fall
A vial of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine is prepared at the vaccination centre at the Madejski Stadium on April 13, 2021 in Reading, England. The Moderna vaccine is the third to be approved for use in the UK, and is now being given to patients in England. Steve Parsons - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Moderna's Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks said that the company's COVID booster shot should be ready by the end of 2021.

Meanwhile, Moderna's CEO Stephane Bancel said that the company hopes it would be available in the fall.

"I want to make sure there are boost vaccines available in the fall so that we protect people as we go into the next fall and winter season in the U.S.," Bancel was quoted in a CNBC report.

Bancel added that the company hopes to submit the data needed to regulators within a few months.

His statement comes after Moderna announced its existing vaccine was more than 90 percent effective at protecting against COVID up to six months after the second dose.

The National Institutes of Health started testing options from Moderna to use as a third shot designed to ramp up protection as there were growing concerns of emerging and existing variants spreading in the country.

Bancel said that he believes that annual COVID booster shots will be usual in the coming months, reiterating that the coronavirus is not going away.

Combination Flu and COVID Vaccine

Aside from the said booster shots, Moderna is also reviewing the possibility of a combination flu-and-COVID vaccine. Trials are set to start this year, according to a Yahoo News report.

This has prompted other products to move forward, including personalized cancer vaccine in partnership with Merck.

The CEO added that regulatory officials did a lot of extraordinary things for the COVID vaccine, noting that Moderna will not rush approval.

Bancel said that he believes they can get a flu vaccine with high efficacy. Current flu vaccines given have efficacy rates of around 40 percent to 60 percent.

COVID Variants and Vaccines

On the other hand, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the British variant or B.1.1.7 variant has become the dominant strain in the U.S.

Experts believe the said strain could be more dangerous, contagious, and deadly.

Meanwhile, according to a study conducted by Israeli experts, the South African variant could evade the protection offered by the Pfizer vaccine.

One of the authors noted that while the variant is better at infecting vaccinated people, it did not have enough data on whether it could cause serious illness among vaccinated people, according to an AFP News report.

Before the study's findings, Pfizer and Moderna reported a 95 percent efficacy.

Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson's vaccine had a 72 percent efficacy rate for preventing moderate illness in the U.S.

However, J&J vaccines' efficacy reduces to 64 percent in South Africa due to its variant, according to another CNBC report.

The company faces another hurdle as regulators recommend the postponement of the vaccines' rollout after reports of blood clots among six women.

One of the reported six women died.

This came after lab contamination that possibly ruined batches of COVID doses of the company, with 62 million doses of the vaccine needing to be checked.

WATCH: Moderna CEO Hopes Covid Booster Shot Ready by Fall - from Bloomberg Markets and Finance