Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Entering the Final Stage of Clinical Testing
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Biotech company Moderna Inc. has been planning to manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine since mid-January. Even before COVID-19 spread around the world and was declared a pandemic.
Currently, the manufacture of the vaccine is complete, the trials they are doing are entering the final stages of clinical trials. Will the vaccine concocted by Moderna scientists be the first to succeed in becoming an antidote to COVID-19?
Moderna’s vaccine has succeeded in growing immunity against COVID-19 infection
The trial of the COVID-19 vaccine made by the biotechnology company Moderna has shown positive results. As many as 45 people who were injected with the vaccine succeeded in forming immunity (antibodies) that can prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus from infecting cells in the body.
“This is good news,” said the chairman United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Dr. Anthony Fauci as quoted from Associated Press (AP).
The level of antibodies formed in the blood of these trial participants exceeded the average antibody formed in patients who had recovered from COVID-19.
This phase 1 clinical trial is published in the Journal The New England Journal of Medicine, Tuesday (14/7). The vaccine, developed by Moderna and NIAID, is the first COVID-19 vaccine tested in humans.
The research team has started clinical trials phase 2 which was carried out on 600 people. On the same day that the experimental results were published, the company announced it would start conducting its phase 3 or final phase clinical trials on July 27.
Testing will involve 30,000 people, half of which will receive the vaccine and the rest will receive either a placebo or blank vaccine. IThis was done to find out whether people who had been vaccinated could be protected from infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus compared to those who received placebo.
According to the research team, the fastest way to get results is to test the vaccine on people who are at high risk because they are in the red zone, where the massive cases of COVID-19 are contagious.
Moderna has set a target of completion of phase 3 clinical trials in October and can be produced in early 2021.
This vaccine made by Moderna is called mRNA-1273. This is a vaccine made using genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus that has been engineered and is able to encourage the system to form antibodies to fight the corona virus.
Phase 1 clinical trial results are designed to test low, medium, and high doses. This is done to measure the safety and ability of the body to form antibodies after being injected with the vaccine. Participants were 45 healthy adults aged 18 to 55 who received two vaccinations within 28 days.
After that, participants grew antibodies that were able to neutralize or deactivate the virus in their bodies. The results of laboratory tests show that these antibodies are similar to the antibodies that form in the patient’s body after recovering from COVID-19.
The vaccine also appeared to be safe and well tolerated by the participants. Although more than half of the participants showed side effects such as fatigue, chills, headaches, muscle aches, and pain at the injection site. Some also have fever.
However, the vaccine has no serious side effects. For example, side effects like this also occur when a person receives measles and DPT immunizations (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus).
Data on participant side effects and the immune response seen in Phase 1 will help researchers fine-tune vaccine doses in phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials.
The results of this phase 1 clinical trial are promising, but many questions remain about the efficacy of the vaccine. For example, the researchers note, it is unclear how long the vaccine-induced antibody response lasts.
For your information, Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is not the only one currently being developed. There are more than 100 vaccine development studies being carried out by researchers from various agencies and institutions, including in Indonesia.
The Indonesian government formed a consortium (association) containing scientists from several research institutions and universities to develop a COVID-19 vaccine led by the Eijkman Molecular Institute.
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