Moderna vaccine "protects against British, S. African variants"

PanARMENIAN.Net - The coronavirus vaccine developed by Moderna triggers an immune response that protected in laboratory tests against two variants of the virus first detected in Britain and South Africa, the company said Monday, January 25, according to The Washington Post.

But the reassuring news that vaccine-elicited antibodies remained effective against concerning new variants was tempered by an ominous finding. Those antibodies were less efficient at neutralizing the South African variant in a laboratory dish — a sixfold reduction in response foreshadowed by a small, but mounting body of evidence that has trickled out showing that the variant may have the potential to elude parts of the immune response.

As a precaution, Moderna announced it will launch two new studies. The company will test adding a third shot of its current vaccine to boost its two-dose regimen. Scientists have also already designed an all-new vaccine specific to the South African variant that could be used as a booster to prime the immune system to the new strain, and plan to test it in the coming months.

The success of two remarkably effective vaccines in record time last year provided the world some breathing room and hope, even as the pandemic surged. But the detection of both variants late last year triggered immediate concern, first because of evidence they were spreading far more easily. Many of the mutations in each variant — eight of those found in the British variant and 10 of those in the South African variant — drew special concern because they sit in the spiky proteins that dot the outside of the coronavirus and have been the key target for vaccines and therapeutics. That raised the specter that the current generation of vaccines might be rendered obsolete before they have even been fully rolled out.