Pfizer and BioNTech announced Thursday they have begun an early-stage study to test a combination vaccine for COVID-19 and the flu.
The vaccine will combine the drugmakers’ updated COVID-19 booster targeting the original strain of the COVID-19 virus from 2020 and omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 with the influenza shot in hopes of simplifying the process for vaccinating individuals against both diseases at once.
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“By combining both indications in one vaccine approach, we aim to provide individuals with an efficient way to receive immunization against two severe respiratory diseases with evolving viruses that require vaccine adaptation,” said Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech. “The data will also provide us with more insights on the potential of mRNA vaccines addressing more than one pathogen. This will help us to further develop our infectious disease pipeline to deliver on patient centric vaccination approaches.”
The Phase 1 study aims to enroll 180 healthy volunteers in the United States ages 18 through 64 years old to assess the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. One participant already received the first dose of the combination shot this week.
Novavax and Moderna are also in the process of developing a COVID-19 flu shot.
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The development of the combination shots comes as White House officials signal that COVID-19 shots are likely to be recommended on an annual basis, similar to the guidance for flu shots, to boost protection against the virus.
“In the absence of a dramatically different variants, we likely are moving towards a path with a vaccination cadence similar to that of the annual influenza vaccine, with annual updated Covid-19 shots matched to the currently circulating strains for most of the population,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical adviser to the president, said in September.
