Is the Moderna bivalent COVID-19 vaccine effective against Omicron BA.4 and BA.5?
Answer:
The Moderna bivalent COVID-19 vaccine targets the original COVID-19 virus strain and the Omicron BA.1 subvariant. This vaccine is expected to provide better protection against Omicron subvariants (including against BA.4 and BA.5) than the original COVID-19 vaccines.
In clinical trials, a booster dose of the Moderna bivalent vaccine triggered a strong immune response against Omicron BA.1 and the original COVID-19 virus strain (the two strains it targets). It also generated a good immune response against the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
This data from clinical trials suggest the bivalent vaccine will offer protection against Omicron subvariants, including against BA.4 and BA.5. However, data on the use of the vaccine in the real world (outside of clinical trials) is needed to determine exactly how effective this vaccine is against these subvariants.
Both the original COVID-19 vaccines and bivalent vaccines are very effective at protecting against severe illness and death from COVID-19.