Moderna Booster Shots Work Well Against Variants: Early Data
A nurse fills up a syringe with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination site at a senior center on March 29, 2021 in San Antonio, Texas. Texas has opened up all vaccination eligibility to all adults starting today. Texas has had a slower roll out than some states and with the increase in eligibility leaders are hoping more and more citizens get vaccinated. Sergio Flores/Getty Images

Moderna's booster shot for COVID variants shows promising effectiveness in protecting people against the South African COVID variant.

Early data from Moderna's Phase 2 clinical trials show that a third dose increased levels of antibodies against the virus.

The booster was administered eight months after the participants had been initially vaccinated, according to an NBC News report.

"Our mRNA platform allows for rapid design of vaccine candidates that incorporate key virus mutations, potentially allowing for faster development of future alternative variant-matched vaccines should they be needed," Moderna's chief executive officer, Stephen Bancel, was quoted in a report.

Bancel added that the results are promising, noting that the vaccine's mRNA technology with speed and precision in protecting against the virus.

The company also found that the booster shot works effectively against the Brazilian variant.

Moderna Booster Shot

The company had first announced in February its plans to work on a shot that could protect individuals from the COVID variants.

Meanwhile, it noted that the side effects were the same as those observed after the second dose of the vaccine in the previously reported studies.

Side effects are pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, and muscle and joint pain.

The interim data comes from a 40-person trial testing both Moderna's existing shot and a tweaked version to the COVID variants.

The company is also looking at a shot that combines both the new and existing vaccine, according to a Reuters report.

Moderna is expected to share more data on a booster shot that composes of its COVID vaccine and the newly developed shot.

U.S. Vaccination Program

White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has earlier said that Americans may need to get booster shots to earn better protection against variants.

U.S. health officials noted that highly contagious variants remain a "wild card" in their vaccination campaign, targeting to have American adults vaccinated by the Fourth of July.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projected an upward trend in May due to the highly contagious British variant.

This would take place before cases decline sharply by July as vaccinations drive down infections, according to a CNBC report.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that they are seeing that the current vaccines are protecting against the contagious variants in the country.

Walensky added that the sooner more people are vaccinated, the sooner the country will get back to normal.

Other Booster Shots

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said people will likely be needing a booster shot within 12 months after finishing the full cycle of vaccination.

Bourla announced the development in April after Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said in February that people may need to get vaccinated against COVID annually, according to another CNBC report.

Pfizer earlier said that its existing COVID vaccine is more than 91 percent effective at protecting against the disease, which increases to 95 percent effective against severe disease up to six months after the second dose.

Moderna and Pfizer use the same technology when it comes to their vaccines.

WATCH: Moderna plans to test booster doses of variant-specific vaccine for NIH study - from CNBC Television