The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, which was recently demonstrated to have 94% efficacy, causes the human immune system to produce potent antibodies that endure for at least three months, a study showed recently. The study, conducted by the researchers at the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), was done on 34 adult volunteers (both young and old). It was also found that the antibodies “declined slightly over time, as expected, but they remained elevated in all participants 3 months after the booster vaccination,” the report said.
NIAID director Anthony Fauci and other infectious diseases experts say it is possible that our bodies would remember the virus and could produce more anti-bodies if exposed to the virus again. As per the study, Moderna’s vaccine also generated a certain type of immune cell, which could help in the memory response against COVID-19. However, more studies are needed to authenticate the claim, it said. The Moderna Inc. had earlier said it would ask American and European regulators to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine as new study results confirmed the shots offered strong protection against the coronavirus infection. It may get emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after an advisory committee reviews the vaccine on December 17.
Like another vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, it is based on a new technology that uses genetic material in the form of mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid). The mRNA is encased in a lipid molecule and injected into the arm, where it causes cells inside our muscles to build a surface protein of the coronavirus. This tricks the immune system into believing it’s been infected with a microbe and trains it to build the right kind of antibodies for when it encounters the real virus.
Moderna is just behind Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech in seeking to begin vaccinations in the US in December. Across the Atlantic, British regulators also are assessing the Pfizer shot and another from AstraZeneca.
