Older veterans who got Moderna’s newer COVID shot, mNEXSPIKE, were hospitalized for COVID less often than those who got Pfizer’s, a VA study finds
The study of more than 294,000 veterans 65 and older found 47% fewer COVID hospitalizations with mNEXSPIKE last season. Because it was not a randomized trial, it cannot prove the shot caused the gap.
Veterans 65 and older who got Moderna’s mNEXSPIKE COVID-19 vaccine last season were less likely to need medical care or a hospital stay for COVID-19 than those who got Pfizer’s vaccine, Comirnaty, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study published Nov. 11 in JAMA Network Open. The journal’s summary said mNEXSPIKE may give older adults at high risk better protection and could help guide which vaccine people choose each season.
What the study found
- Among more than 294,000 veterans, mNEXSPIKE was linked to a 35.9% lower risk of COVID-19 that needed medical care and a 47.0% lower risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19, compared with Comirnaty, Moderna said Nov. 12 in summarizing the study.
- The study covered the 2025-2026 respiratory virus season. It was led by Kevin McConeghy of the VA Providence Healthcare System in Rhode Island.
Who can get it
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the 2026-2027 version of mNEXSPIKE for everyone 65 and older and for people 12 to 64 with at least one health condition that raises their risk of severe COVID-19, according to its prescribing information. It is one shot, given at least three months after a person’s last COVID-19 vaccine dose. The most common side effects include pain where the shot is given, tiredness, headache and muscle aches, Moderna says.
Both vaccines use mRNA, a set of genetic instructions that has the body briefly make a harmless piece of the coronavirus so the immune system learns to recognize it.
The limits
Veterans were not randomly assigned a vaccine, so other differences between the two groups could explain part of the gap, and the results may not apply to other groups, Moderna noted. The study was not designed to compare the vaccines’ safety. Older adults weighing a COVID-19 shot this season can ask a doctor or pharmacist which vaccines are available to them.