WEDNESDAY, April 14, 2021 (HealthDay News) — The Moderna two-dose COVID-19 vaccine continues to provide strong protection against the new coronavirus six months after people have received their second shot, the company reported Tuesday.
It said that findings from its late-stage trial follow-up showed that six months after the second dose, the vaccine remained 90 percent effective against all cases of COVID-19 and 95 percent effective against severe cases of the disease, The Washington Post reported.
Moderna also said that it is testing vaccine candidates that target specific variants of the new coronavirus, including the B.1.351 variant first detected in South Africa. Some studies have suggested that the variant can escape immunity provided by current vaccines. One of the candidates combines the vaccine targeting the B.1.351 variant with the original Moderna shot, which the company said “provided the broadest level of immunity” when tested on mice, The Post reported.
The company said its early results on vaccines that target specific variants would be submitted for peer-reviewed publication, The Post reported.
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