COVID-19 has claimed millions of lives all around the world and the development of an effective vaccine seems to be the only way out of this pandemic. A first-ever coronavirus vaccine manufactured by Moderna has been successful in human trials and seems to induce an effective immune response in the body.
On Monday, the company claimed that it has produced a successful vaccine which is a silver lining for people all over the world.
The vaccine was first administered in eight people who showed signs of immunity after two doses of the vaccine were given to the participants. Moderna was successful in manufacturing the vaccine using the genetic material called messenger RNA or mRNA from the virus.
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Researchers and scientists all over the world are eager to create an effective coronavirus vaccine and several companies have sent their candidates for human trials which includes Pfizer who is working in collaboration with BioNTech and Oxford University who has closed a deal with AstraZeneca in the UK.
Moderna’s vaccine seems promising in the long run as the basis of the vaccine is mRNA which is highly susceptible to the adaptation to a new virus. According to the statement of the company, the trials will enter the next phase shortly which will include 600 participants and the third phase of the trial will include thousands of participants and it will be started in July.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the request of Moderna to start the second phase of the human trial in May.
The chief medical officer of Moderna, Dr. Tal Zaks said that if the human trials are successful, he is hopeful that the vaccine will be available in the market by late 2020 or early in the next year. He also said that the company is working at its full capacity to produce millions of doses of the vaccine.
President Donald Trump had also predicted that the first-ever coronavirus vaccine might be available later this year.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is working in collaboration with Moderna in the production of the vaccine. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the head of the institute has been supervising the human trials for the vaccine. The US Government funded Moderna with almost half a billion dollars to accelerate the production of the vaccine.
The individuals who were administered the experimental vaccine are healthy individuals of different age groups. The efficacy of the vaccine was verified in the lab when the antibodies against the virus were detected in the body of the participants and the antibodies also restricted the replication of the virus.
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These neutralizing antibodies were found to be at the same level as those individuals who have previously recovered from the coronavirus.
The director of the N.Y.U. Langone Vaccine Center, Dr. Mark J. Mulligan regarded the efforts of Moderna as highly encouraging. He also said the initial trial was done on a few individuals but it seems to be a good start to the path of development of a successful vaccine.
The data and findings from the preliminary human trial have been submitted to the FDA. The data will be hopefully made pubic later this summer as stated by the company.