Researchers have found that the Modern COVID-19 vaccine has been shown to be effective in repelling more contagious variants of the virus.
A few new studies have found that the Moderna vaccine, one of three approved by the FDA for administration in the US, is effective against the California variant that has recently spread rapidly, with a protection of at least six months.
In one study, researchers at Duke University found that antibodies generated by the dose of Moderna had about twice as much neutralizing power against the California tribe.
While it showed a decrease, researchers said the study shows that the vaccine is very effective against the variant.
The Duke study came on the heels of another project that found that the Moderna vaccine was also slightly weakened against the British variant of COVID-19, known as the B.1.1.7 strain, but still very effective appears to be the spread or contraction of the virus.
However, the Modern vaccine was still susceptible to the South African variant, although it still helped more than patients without a vaccine and it was much less common than the California strain.
“The good news is that the California variant is not a problem for our current vaccines,” said Dr. David Montefiori, a co-author of the Duke study. “It’s important to know, because this (California) variant is now just as common in the US as the British variant, both of which look more contagious.”
In the second study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers looked at blood samples from 33 healthy participants dosed in phases with Moderna doses.
In that study, antibodies were found to persist for at least six months after the second dose was administered to complete the vaccination.
The authors of the study noted that “ongoing studies monitor the immune responses for more than six months, as well as determine the effect of a booster dose to prolong the duration and breadth of activity against emerging virus variants.”
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