February 22, 2022 – According to The Washington Post, an international medical trial will test the effects of reduced booster doses to help widely distribute existing coronavirus vaccine supplies amid the continued spread of the omicron variant.
An initiative of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI, the trial will take place in Australia, Indonesia, and Mongolia, where up to 3,300 adults have received the first two doses of a COVID vaccine will either get a full or a reduced booster dose.
The trial is designed to see how effective the reduced booster is compared to the full dose and what side effects may occur. The researchers are hoping that results will “suggest that a reduced booster dose would improve, broaden, and prolong, the immune response following a primary series of COVID-19 vaccination, while also putting less strain on first dose supplies.”
Additionally, they are hoping to find that a reduced booster dose is easier on the body and will encourage the unvaccinated to get vaccinated. The CEPI will up to $8.7 million on the trial, and the Murdoch Institute will run it in collaboration with two universities in Indonesia and the government of Mongolia.