Moderna says its Covid-19 vaccine protected against variants in study

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – U.S. biotech Moderna announced Tuesday that its Covid-19 vaccine produced neutralizing activity against variants of the coronavirus, including Delta, in a not-yet-peer-reviewed laboratory study.

According to a statement, the vaccine produced antibody titers against all variants tested in vitro, including Beta, identified in South Africa; Delta, identified in India; and others identified in Nigeria, Uganda, and Angola.

Moderna, which is working on a clinical development strategy to protect against variants, used serum samples from eight participants obtained one week after the second dose in the first phase of the clinical trial of its covid vaccine.

The study is a preprint paper that has been submitted for peer review to the journal BioRxiv, so it is not yet certified.

“As we seek to defeat the pandemic, it is imperative that we are proactive with the evolution of the virus. We remain committed to studying emerging variants, generating data, and sharing it as it becomes available,” explained Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel.

Bancel said the data presented are “encouraging” and suggest that the anti-covid vaccine the company has developed “should continue to protect against newly detected variants.”

“These findings underscore the importance of continuing to vaccinate populations with an effective primary vaccine series,” he added.