Moderna announced Monday that its studies have shown the company’s COVID-19 vaccine remains effective against emerging variants of the virus first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa.The Massachusetts-based company, which makes one of the two vaccines currently authorized for emergency use by the FDA, said in a statement that the two variants were tested against sera from individuals who had been inoculated with the vaccine. The research was conducted in collaboration with the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. That research found no impact on the efficacy against the UK mutation.There was a “six-fold reduction in neutralizing titers” observed against the South African mutation. “Despite this reduction, neutralizing titer levels with (the variant) remain above levels that are expected to be protective,” company officials wrote.Officials also wrote: “These lower titers may suggest a potential risk of earlier waning of immunity to the new B.1.351 strains.”Moderna said it plans to test how an additional booster shot of the vaccine, which already requires two doses, to study if that improves the efficacy against the emerging variants. Additionally, the company plans to launch new preclinical studies of a vaccine booster candidate specifically for the South African variant. “As we seek to defeat the COVID-19 virus, which has created a worldwide pandemic, we believe it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves. We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine should be protective against these newly detected variants,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said. “Out of an abundance of caution and leveraging the flexibility of our mRNA platform, we are advancing an emerging variant booster candidate against the variant first identified in the Republic of South Africa into the clinic to determine if it will be more effective to boost titers against this and potentially future variants.”
Moderna announced Monday that its studies have shown the company’s COVID-19 vaccine remains effective against emerging variants of the virus first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
The Massachusetts-based company, which makes one of the two vaccines currently authorized for emergency use by the FDA, said in a statement that the two variants were tested against sera from individuals who had been inoculated with the vaccine. The research was conducted in collaboration with the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
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That research found no impact on the efficacy against the UK mutation.
There was a “six-fold reduction in neutralizing titers” observed against the South African mutation.
“Despite this reduction, neutralizing titer levels with (the variant) remain above levels that are expected to be protective,” company officials wrote.
Officials also wrote: “These lower titers may suggest a potential risk of earlier waning of immunity to the new B.1.351 strains.”
Moderna said it plans to test how an additional booster shot of the vaccine, which already requires two doses, to study if that improves the efficacy against the emerging variants. Additionally, the company plans to launch new preclinical studies of a vaccine booster candidate specifically for the South African variant.
“As we seek to defeat the COVID-19 virus, which has created a worldwide pandemic, we believe it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves. We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine should be protective against these newly detected variants,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said. “Out of an abundance of caution and leveraging the flexibility of our mRNA platform, we are advancing an emerging variant booster candidate against the variant first identified in the Republic of South Africa into the clinic to determine if it will be more effective to boost titers against this and potentially future variants.”
