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Pharmaceutical companies are racing to develop the next phase of Covid booster vaccines. Dr Ann Robinson explains how current development uses the original variants that were discovered in Wuhan, despite the fact that these are no longer in circulation. Moderna have developed a Wuhan-Omicron strain combination, that uses the mRNA vaccine, wtih a spike protein that comes from a recent variant. Sanofi-GSK have funded two trials and also reported good results against older as well as more recent strains as immunity to the original Wuhan strain is still useful. She thinks there will be an annual vaccine, similar to how a flu vaccine is administered in some countries, with the WHO continuing to assess the most dominant strains. Photo: A healthworker in the US prepares a Covid-19 vaccine Credit: Reuters
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