Moderna's stock shoots up again on hopes of a 'brand new' omicron vaccine by early next year

Shares of Moderna Inc. /zigman2/quotes/205619834/composite MRNA +4.16% shot up 10.1% in premarket trading Monday, after soaring 20.7% in the previous session, on hopes for the quick development of an omicron-specific COVID-19 booster vaccine. The biotechnology company's stock rallied on Friday after the company said it will "rapidly advance" a booster vaccine candidate. On Sunday, Moderna Medical Director Dr. Paul Burton said on the BBC's "Andrew Marr Show" said it should be known "in the next couple of weeks" about the ability of the current vaccine to provide protection against the omicron variant. "If we have to make a brand new vaccine I think that's going to be early 2022 before that's really going to be available in large quantities," Burton said, according to a BBC transcript . The stock has dropped 13.8% over the past three months through Friday, but has rocketed 215.5% year to date, while the S&P 500 /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +1.44% has gained 1.9% the past three months and rallied 22.3% this year.