Moderna says research shows COVID-19 vaccine is effective against UK, South African variants

Theo. US has now surpassed 25 million coronavirus cases, and the death toll continues to climb, with more than 3000 people who have died of Koven 19 every day in the last four days, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects, a total of 569,000 Americans will have died from coronavirus by May 1st. Javier Becerra, president Biden's nominee to run health and Human services, described it this way on Sunday. The plane is in a nose dive and we gotta pull it up and you're not going to do that overnight. But we're gonna pull it up. We have to pull it up. Failure is not an option here, but there has been some good news. The same model that predicted 569,000 deaths also shows nearly 43,000 people's lives may be saved in that same timeframe, thanks to vaccination. And the seven day moving average of new cases in the U. S is starting to drop after an aggressive post holiday peak. In the positivity, rates stay low enough in Chicago for restaurants and bars to restart limited indoor dining. When the rumors started, swirling around our staff that it was gonna be ableto happen. There was a spark in everybody's eyes to be able to know that we're gonna be able to do what we do best once again. And that's an exciting thing for us in the hospitality professionals. That same look of excitement and gratitude. Oh, they're from you. How sweet that's America is in the eyes of millions of people lining up to be vaccinated around the country, including now mobile and pop up vaccination sites run by companies like Amazon. The challenge is getting Mawr supply distributed to what's currently a patchwork of local health providers who are sometimes battling website crashes and scheduling mishaps. No one knew what the hell we're doing, so they sent everybody home. This is happening to me, and I'm well educated. My husband's a state senator. If this is happening to me, what's happening to people who don't have what I have and I have the access that I have. Meanwhile, officials have their eye on coronavirus variance and how well the vaccine may hold up as the virus changes. It means we've got a number one do much better genomic surveillance so we can identify variance when they arise. It means we've got to double down on public health measures like masking and avoiding indoor gathering. So the bottom line is we're in a race against these variants. The virus is going to change, and it's up to us to adapt and to make sure that we're staying ahead.

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.”

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. —

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 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.”

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