By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – Moderna stock (NASDAQ:) surged 8% in Monday’s premarket trading after the company said trials have shown that its booster raises antibodies against Omicron by at least 37 times.

The company tested its booster candidates at 50 µg and 100 µg dose, with the latter showing about 83-fold jump in neutralizing antibody levels compared to pre-boost. Moderna admitted previously that it was not as effective in the Omicron version of the vaccine against Delta than its usual 2-dose regimen.

Moderna stated in a statement that booster candidates are currently being assessed in phase 2/3 studies involving approximately 300 to 600 participants in each arm.

Moderna says that while it will use mRNA-1273 to boost its vaccine against Omicron as its first defense, the company will continue developing an Omicron-specific vaccine. It expects to move into clinical trials in early 2019. According to Moderna, the company also plans to evaluate adding omicron to its multivalent booster program.

Omicron has spread to more than 80 countries and is dominating many Delta versions. Omicron spreads faster than Delta. It has also helped ease restrictions and lockdowns in European countries.  

Over 90,000 cases of Omicron have been reported every day in the U.K.  Omicron may not be as likely to infect Delta than Omicron, and hospital admissions aren’t increasing in tandem with Omicron cases. However, experts in health are worried that Omicron’s greater infectiousness might still cause overcrowding of public health systems. Business owners fear this could result in staff shortages due to the Omicron infected being forced to self-isolate.