{"id":49750,"date":"2021-01-25T11:47:32","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T15:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=49750"},"modified":"2021-01-25T11:47:32","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T15:47:32","slug":"this-is-how-the-coviteers-will-keep-the-pandemic-going-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=49750","title":{"rendered":"This is how the Coviteers will keep the pandemic going forever!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moderna Vaccine Not Effective Against “Mutant” South African COVID Strain, But Works With UK Variant<\/h1>\n

ZeroHedge.com<\/p>\n

Moderna’s latest trial data includes some good news…and some bad news.<\/p>\n

The good news is that the biotech company’s original COVID jab is effective against two mutations of SARS-CoV-2 which were first isolated in the UK and South Africa, respectively.<\/p>\n

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The bad news is that, at least when it comes to the South African variant,\u00a0Moderna’s jab is much less effective than scientists had expected. That’s a bad sign, because it suggests the vaccines might not perform as well, particularly in elderly patients,<\/strong>\u00a0or that the immunity they provide might not last as long, as various strains of the virus continue to mutate.<\/p>\n

However, perhaps due to the optimistic tone of the press release, investors took the news as a positive and bid Moderna shares higher.<\/p>\n

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Here’s some more details from\u00a0the FT:<\/a><\/p>\n

Laboratory tests show Moderna\u2019s Covid-19 jab still works against the variant named 501.V2, which emerged in South Africa, and B.1.1.7, which was first discovered in the UK, the company said.\u00a0But it warned that the neutralising antibody response to 501.V2 was sixfold lower than to the original variant, raising concerns that immunity to it may wane significantly, particularly in older people.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moderna has launched a series of trials intended to test its vaccine’s efficacy against several different mutant strains.<\/p>\n

But don’t worry, because even though Moderna’s CEO acknowledges that this is an extremely serious situation and the company is preparing for the worst-case scenario, everything is going to be okay.<\/p>\n

St\u00e9phane Bancel, Moderna CEO, said\u00a0the company was preparing for a “worst-case scenario,” even though he had \u201czero concerns\u201d about the vaccine\u2019s efficacy<\/strong>\u00a0in the coming months.\u00a0 \u201cIf something needs to be done in the summer, we’ll do something, but we cannot be late,\u201d he told the Financial Times. \u201cWe don\u2019t want the virus to win, we want the human race to win.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That doesn’t exactly sound reassuring.\u00a0 As it turns out, Moderna is the first vaccine maker in the West to announce a trial for a booster against a new variant, after having its initial jab authorised across the world including in the US, the EU and the UK.\u00a0Its messengerRNA technology can be quickly adapted for new variants.<\/p>\n

The company is working with the US National Institutes of Health on the trials. Mr Bancel said a few thousand trial participants would be given a booster shot,<\/strong>\u00a0divided into two groups: one to receive the original vaccine again, and another to get a new vaccine formulated to target 501.V2. The trial will also test to see what dose is needed for a booster.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the full press release below:<\/em><\/p>\n

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan. 25, 2021–\u00a0Moderna Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, today announced results from in vitro neutralization studies of sera from individuals vaccinated with Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine showing activity against emerging strains of SARS-CoV-2. Vaccination with the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine produced neutralizing titers against all key emerging variants tested, including B.1.1.7 and B.1.351, first identified in the\u00a0UK\u00a0and\u00a0Republic of South Africa, respectively. The study showed no significant impact on neutralizing titers against the B.1.1.7 variant relative to prior variants. A six-fold reduction in neutralizing titers was observed with the B.1.351 variant relative to prior variants. Despite this reduction, neutralizing titer levels with B.1.351 remain above levels that are expected to be protective. This study was conducted in collaboration with the\u00a0Vaccine Research Center\u00a0(VRC) at the\u00a0National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases\u00a0(NIAID), part of the\u00a0National Institutes of Health\u00a0(NIH). The manuscript has been submitted as a preprint to\u00a0bioRxiv\u00a0and will be submitted for peer-reviewed publication.<\/p>\n

The two-dose regimen of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine at the 100 \u00b5g dose is expected to be protective against emerging strains detected to date. Nonetheless,\u00a0Moderna\u00a0today announced its clinical strategy to proactively address the pandemic as the virus continues to evolve. First, the Company will test an additional booster dose of its COVID-19 Vaccine (mRNA-1273) to study the ability to further increase neutralizing titers against emerging strains beyond the existing primary vaccination series. Second, the Company is advancing an emerging variant booster candidate (mRNA-1273.351) against the B.1.351 variant first identified in the\u00a0Republic of South Africa. The Company is advancing mRNA-1273.351 into preclinical studies and a Phase 1 study in the\u00a0U.S.\u00a0to evaluate the immunological benefit of boosting with strain-specific spike proteins.\u00a0Moderna\u00a0expects that its mRNA-based booster vaccine (whether mRNA-1273 or mRNA-1273.351) will be able to further boost neutralizing titers in combination with all of the leading vaccine candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we seek to defeat the COVID-19 virus, which has created a worldwide pandemic, we believe it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves. We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine should be protective against these newly detected variants,\u201d said\u00a0St\u00e9phane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of\u00a0Moderna. \u201cOut of an abundance of caution and leveraging the flexibility of our mRNA platform, we are advancing an emerging variant booster candidate against the variant first identified in the\u00a0Republic of South Africa\u00a0into the clinic to determine if it will be more effective to boost titers against this and potentially future variants.”<\/p>\n

First detected in\u00a0September 2020\u00a0in the\u00a0United Kingdom, the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant has seventeen mutations in the viral genome with eight mutations located in the spike (S) protein. The B.1.351 variant, first detected in\u00a0South Africa, has ten mutations located in the spike (S) protein. Both variants have spread at a rapid rate and are associated with increased transmission and a higher viral burden after infection1,2.<\/p>\n

The in vitro study assessed the ability of mRNA-1273 to elicit potently neutralizing antibodies against the new SARS-CoV-2 variants, using sera from eight Phase 1 clinical trial participants (aged 18-55 years) who received two 100 \u00b5g doses of mRNA-1273, and separately using sera from non-human primates (NHPs) immunized with two doses of 30 \u00b5g or 100 \u00b5g of mRNA-1273.<\/p>\n

For the B.1.1.7 variant, neutralizing antibody titers remained high and were generally consistent with neutralizing titers relative to prior variants. No significant impact on neutralization was observed from either the full set of mutations found in the B.1.1.7 variant or from specific key mutations of concern. Although these mutations have been reported to lessen neutralization from convalescent sera and to increase infectivity, sera from the Phase 1 participants and NHPs immunized with mRNA-1273 were able to neutralize the B.1.1.7 variant to the same level as prior variants.<\/p>\n

For the B.1.351 variant, vaccination with the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine produces neutralizing antibody titers that remain above the neutralizing titers that were shown to protect NHPs against wildtype viral challenge. While the Company expects these levels of neutralizing antibodies to be protective, pseudovirus neutralizing antibody titers were approximately 6-fold lower relative to prior variants. These lower titers may suggest a potential risk of earlier waning of immunity to the new B.1.351 strains.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Moderna Vaccine Not Effective Against “Mutant” South African COVID Strain, But Works With UK Variant<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}