ARCHIV - 19.11.2021, Bayern, Haar: ILLUSTRATION - Ein Mann bekommt im Impfzentrum seine Booster-Impfung (Biontech/Pfizer) gegen das Coronavirus. Die angebliche Zahl schwerer Nebenwirkungen der Corona-Impfungen sind seit Monaten ein Zankapfel in Politik und Gesellschaft. (zu dpa: Gesundheitsministerium löschte Corona-Tweet: Was steckt dahinter?) Foto: Sven Hoppe/dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++

The Mainz-based corona vaccine manufacturer Biontech and its US partner Pfizer have started a study on the effectiveness and safety of a new vaccine candidate.

The possible vaccine is based on the same mRNA technology as the previous vaccine and is now being investigated in a clinical phase 2 study with around 200 participants in the USA, as the companies announced on Wednesday.

For this “next-generation vaccine candidate”, the spike protein has been adapted with the aim of increasing the scope of the immune response in order to increase protection against Covid-19. “This is the first in a series of vaccine candidates with an adapted design,” the companies said.