After Pfizer that said their vaccine was working against the UK Covid variant but not the South-African strain, it is now Moderna Therapeutics laboratory to give news about their product and efficacy on the mutations of the virus currently spreading across the world. And good news: the vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical group – soon to be issued in Europe – does work against both strains of the virus, even though it is less effective against the South-African variant. News unveiled this Monday January 25, 2021 by Moderna in a press release.
We just announced that the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine retains neutralizing activity against emerging variants first identified in the U.K. and the Republic of South Africa. Read more: https://t.co/UCCvX0PrKV pic.twitter.com/nCGl3hfhlU
— Moderna (@moderna_tx) January 25, 2021
They add that searchers expect the virus to be “protective against emerging strains detected to date” the laboratory explains, after conducting several trials. Moderna Therapeutics also announced they will be working on developing another dose to inject to patients to improve the efficacy of the vaccine against variants. The laboratory goes even further and according to Financial Times, they are working on the design of a new version of their vaccine to make it more effective against the South-African variant, the messenger RNA technology constituting the vaccine enabling it in rather short terms (six weeks).
As for the vaccine, back in late 2020, the laboratory said it was 94.5% effective. So far, the European Union secured 160 million doses, including 12 million doses likely to be supplied to France. A product completing France’s vaccine offer, alongside Pfizer/BioNTech, while waiting for AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines to be approved.
