© 2024 Iowa Public Radio
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

COVID-19 Vaccine Makers Consider Adapting Vaccines, Booster Shots Against Resistant Variants

Published February 24, 2021 at 11:06 AM CST
David Williams receives a COVID-19 vaccine on Feb. 10, 2021, in Las Vegas. The makers of COVID-19 vaccines are figuring out how to tweak their recipes against worrisome virus mutations — if and when the shots need an update. (John Locher/AP)
David Williams receives a COVID-19 vaccine on Feb. 10, 2021, in Las Vegas. The makers of COVID-19 vaccines are figuring out how to tweak their recipes against worrisome virus mutations — if and when the shots need an update. (John Locher/AP)

A study last week published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines may be less effective at neutralizing the South African variant of the coronavirus. Vaccine makers are now racing to develop booster shots that address these more resistant variants.

Host Peter O’Dowd speaks with Dr. Drew Weissman, professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and pioneer of the mRNA technology used in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tags
NPR News