MultiCare Launches Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Trial

TACOMA, WA — MultiCare Health System has been seeking volunteers from across Puget Sound and Spokane to take part in a vaccine trial for the Moderna booster shot.

The trial, which began Thursday, aims to enroll 200 patients to take a third dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, as well as a dose of either the shingles or influenza booster vaccines. As MultiCare researchers explain, the trial aims to see if the Moderna booster interferes with other inoculation.

“As we move to a future where booster shots for our current COVID-19 vaccines are commonplace, it is likely that they will be given alongside other vaccines such as flu shots and the shingles vaccine at the same time,” explains Dr. Jonathan Staben, the trial’s principal investigator in the Spokane region. “We need to continue to do research and study whether giving certain vaccines at the same time affects their performance."

As with the Pfizer vaccine booster, only patients who have received the two-dose Moderna vaccine will be eligible to take the third Moderna shot as a booster: no mix-and-matching allowed. High-risk patients who took the Pfizer vaccine at least six months ago have been eligible for the Pfizer booster since late last month, and MultiCare says their study is a great opportunity for patients who took the Moderna vaccine and want to get their boosters ASAP.

“If someone is planning on getting a booster, because of health conditions or a high-risk profession, this is a great study to be involved in,” Dr. Staben said.

The FDA is set to begin reviewing booster data for the Moderna vaccine next week, the Associated Press reported. If it receives their approval, Moderna boosters could become available to the general public later this month.

For MultiCare's trial, patients will need to be free for six or more in-person clinic visits, including multiple blood draws, over a 24-week testing period. But on the plus side, they could be key to helping millions, if not billions, of others down the road.

“While billions of doses of different COVID-19 vaccines have been administered around the world, we are still working to understand the nuances of how long their protection lasts and how it differs from person to person,” says Dr. Vinay Malhotra, the trial’s principal investigator for the Puget Sound region.

Patients interested in learning more can email research@multicare.org or call 253- 403-7249.