Approval from the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to be requested by Modern in order to market it combination COVID-influenza vaccine which he has developed.

The company said earlier this month that it had successfully completed phase III clinical trials in adults aged 50 and over.

According to the journal Nature, the first large clinical trial in humans showed that the combination vaccine provides better protection against both the coronavirus and influenza viruses – more effectively than conventional vaccines that target one virus or the other.

The vaccine code can also be quickly changed to protect against new variants and mutations.

The researchers are also investigating how many instructions they can incorporate into an mRNA vaccine.

As Nature reports, a team managed to embed instructions for all 20 flu variants in a lipid layer.

Moderna hopes to add respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) to the combined COVID-flu vaccine.