Moderna's combo Covid and flu mRNA shot outperforms current vaccines in large trial

[BumRushDaShow]

46. I'm a retired chemist who used to work for a HHS agency

and had been following the progress of the vaccine approvals (and posting LBN OPs) during the heart of the pandemic.

Because of not needing eggs in the manufacture, they can actually wait much longer - even as late as early summer, to nail down the circulating variant before starting production for the fall season, whereas the production of egg-cultured vaccines takes much longer, and thus the decision on the variant needs to happen by around April in order to get the production underway to have the vaccine ready for the fall season. In that latter case, there is a higher chance to get the variant "wrong" because of the required long lead time to get a finished vaccine.

Moderna doesn't expect it to be ready for review/approval until at least 2026, so still have to wait at this point.