Pfizer on Wednesday said the updated Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine expected to be used this fall elicited a strong antibody response against the highly mutated BA.2.86 subvariant of the coronavirus in a preclinical study in mice.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has previously indicated that BA.2.86 may be more capable of causing infection in people who previously had COVID or were vaccinated with previous shots.

Moderna said earlier on Wednesday that clinical trial data in humans showed its updated shot will likely be effective against the BA.2.86 variant.

The company said its shot generated an 8.7-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies in humans against BA.2.86, which is being tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).