Preliminary Test Results Of The First Human Vaccine Against COVID-19 Published

Preliminary test results of the first human vaccine against COVID-19 published

The manufacturer of the drug is the American company Moderna. This is a Phase I clinical trial. It shows how safe the vaccine is and provides preliminary information about its effect on the body.

Photo: David L. Ryan / Boston Globe

The first COVID-19 vaccine to be tested in humans showed promising results early in the study. This was announced by Moderna, the manufacturer of the new mRNA vaccine mRNA-1273. Published Information - Interim data from the Phase I study.

The study was conducted on 45 volunteers, healthy people between the ages of 18 and 55. Interim results, published for 8 study participants, say the new vaccine is safe, well tolerated by study participants, and causes them to develop antibodies. At this stage, it cannot be judged whether these antibodies can prevent infection with the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Vaccine against COVID-19. How optimistic should our expectations be?

Think back to what we know about mRNA vaccines and the dangers of researching vaccines in humans without prior animal testing.

Read the article

The data show that even when the vaccine is given at low doses, people develop antibodies to neutralize the virus in concentrations that are comparable to the amount of antibodies in people who have had COVID-19.

Further, the effect of the vaccine should be and followed on a larger group of people, and after that scientists will check whether the vaccine prevents COVID-19 in real life. The start of the final stage of the study (Phase III) is scheduled for July 2020.

“The Phase I study is not intended to demonstrate the effectiveness of the vaccine in reducing the incidence or prevention of COVID-19, nor is it intended to draw such conclusions. The Phase III study will show this, so it is very important not to overestimate the current results. We do not know if the vaccine works the same for the elderly, because they will participate in the study at a later stage,”commented Stephen Evans, professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, on the current data.