Coronavirus: Vaccine candidate shows promise in trial

A COVID-19 vaccine candidate produced a high neutralizing antibody response in clinical trial volunteers.

According to an article in The New England Journal of Medicine, the vaccine candidate mRNA-1273 was tested in a phase one dose-escalation open-label trial of 45 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 55. The participants received two vaccinations 28 days apart in three distinct dosages in March and April.

Researchers found that after the first vaccination antibody responses were higher in patients who received higher doses of the vaccine candidate. These antibodies increased after the second dose of mRNA-1273. After the first injection more than half of the volunteers reported adverse reactions including fatigue, chills, headache, myalgia, and pain at the injection site. After the second dose the adverse effects were more common especially in those that received the highest dose, while three participants who received the highest dose reported one or more severe adverse reactions, the article says.

Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, expressed optimism about the vaccine candidate when interviewed by The Associated Press (AP).

“No matter how you slice this, this is good news,” Fauci says.

The vaccine candidate was developed by the National Institute of Health and Moderna and is one of three candidates entering final testing stages The other two candidates were developed in China and Oxford University in Britain, according to the AP.

Fauci told the AP says that he hopes all of the vaccine candidates are proven to be effective.

“We need multiple vaccines. We need vaccines for the world, not only for our own country,” he says.