In the face of mutated viruses; is the previously developed vaccine still effective? The U.S. biotech company Moderna said on January 25 that the results of a laboratory study showed that their new crown vaccine, mRNA-1273, still offers protection against the mutant strains of the virus found in the United Kingdom and South Africa, respectively.
However, since the trial results also showed that the Moderna vaccine had a weak antibody response to the South African variant, Moderna added a second dose of additional vaccine to the trial for prudence, making a total of three doses required; and has begun clinical trials on a candidate additional vaccine that has been specifically adapted for the South African variant.
Modena CEO Stephane Bancel said, “These new data give us encouragement and increase our confidence that Modena’s new crown vaccine should provide protection against these newly identified Variant viruses.”
Modena’s experiment took blood samples from eight people who had received two doses of the vaccine and from two primates who had also been vaccinated.
It was found that the vaccine had no effect on the level of neutralizing antibodies produced by the British variant of the virus. However, the level of neutralizing antibodies against the South African variant was significantly lower, but still higher than the level of protective antibodies produced in previous tests in primates.
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