Why we need booster shots against variants to help end the pandemic
As variants spread, scientists are fighting back. The good news is COVID-19 may have a limited number of dangerous mutations.
Just as the coronavirus continues to mutate and evolve, so must the weapons used to fight it. To that end the National Institutes of Health began testing booster shots designed to target a new variant of the COVID-19 virus. First seen in South Africa, the strain known as B.1.351 is especially worrisome because it appears to spread, like some other variants, more easily than the original. Recent research also indicates it can evade the immune protections generated by vaccines or natural COVID-19 infections.
In an effort to get ahead of the virus, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is collaborating with Massachusetts-based Moderna to test a tweaked version of its vaccine. The shot has been retrofitted with genetic
