News of Moderna’s weakened response to the South African coronavirus strain (B.1.351) is raising more alarms amid the ongoing pandemic.
Experts have been watching the strain closely as it may be resistant to the vaccine. Although it has not yet been detected in the United States, the country must prepare for its potential spread, warn experts.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said this on CBS Sunday, and Moderna (MRNA) CEO Stéphane Bancel told Yahoo Finance on Monday that Fauci agreed with the company’s need to study the strain.
“This has all been decided in the last few days,” said Bancel.
“We met with the team several times during the weekend, talked to the board and decided that this was the most prudent thing to do – which Dr. Fauci confirmed to me yesterday when I was talking to him,” added Bancel.
The concern adds to the list of questions about vaccines, including how long-term they will be.
“Nobody … knows how long the protection will last,” said Bancel, recalling that the concern is greater for the elderly.
“I would definitely tell people, get vaccinated, you need to be protected now,” he added.
Meanwhile, Moderna expects to begin reinforcement studies in March – marking a year since Phase 1 testing began – and then in summer – sometime between June and August – to begin with last year’s Phase 3 participants. .
“As it is just one dose, we will get the data more quickly,” said Bancel.
Even with vaccinations struggling to increase across the country, Bancel is looking to next fall, when respiratory viruses begin to spread.
“What we want is to be ready for the fall,” he said. “We don’t have to go through a terrible winter again like the one we are facing now.”
For this to happen, all vaccinations must be done by autumn, so that booster doses can begin in winter – after a year is complete. The hope, said Bancel, is that booster doses will be lower doses to produce a larger supply. Currently, the double vaccine requires 100 micrograms to be effective.
“If the dose were 50 or 25 micrograms, which is possible because your immune system is already prepared … you could have up to eight times more product as a reinforcement,” said Bancel.
Questions remain
Dr. Paul Offit, a leading vaccine specialist and pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), told Yahoo Finance on Monday that there is still a lot to learn about the news from Moderna – such as what is specifically the level of production of antibodies and B- production of cells and T cells. All three components are part of the vaccine’s ability to fight the virus, so more data from the Moderna study is needed.
But in the meantime, it is necessary to carry out two studies of reinforcement shots, as Moderna is doing, with one designed to hit the strain and another for general reinforcement, said Offit.
Melissa Van Kherkove, of the World Health Organization, said during a press conference on Monday that the emergence of variants means that even more attention should be given to mitigation measures in the absence of widespread vaccinations.
“Everything we are learning about these variants does not change our approach to controlling COVID. It will take longer than we all want for vaccines to have the impact they will have, ”she said.
Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergency Program, added that the virus will continue to spread “probably for a long time”.
So far, smallpox is the only disease to be eradicated, and polio and measles are a constant struggle.
“I don’t believe that we should start to define the elimination or eradication of this virus as the barrier to success. The barrier to success is to reduce the ability of this virus to kill, to intern people, to destroy our economic (and) social life, ”said Ryan.
“We have to get to the point where we are in control of the virus,” he said.
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