In March, a COVID-19 vaccine was tested on 45 healthy adults in Phase 1 tests administered by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc. On Tuesday evening, it was reported that all the participants in the study reflected an immune system boost response, enabling the entities testing the vaccine to start testing it on 30,000 participants starting on July 27, which would make it the largest study in the world.
The results were taken from the younger subjects in the study; results from older adults are currently being analyzed.
“Those early volunteers developed what are called neutralizing antibodies in their bloodstream — molecules key to blocking infection — at levels comparable to those found in people who survived COVID-19, the research team reported in the New England Journal of Medicine,” AP reported.
The leader of the study, Dr. Lisa Jackson of the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle, asserted, “This is an essential building block that is needed to move forward with the trials that could actually determine whether the vaccine does protect against infection.”
The study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that the scientists “conducted a phase 1, dose-escalation, open-label trial including 45 healthy adults, 18 to 55 years of age, who received two vaccinations, 28 days apart … There were 15 participants in each dose group … After the first vaccination, antibody responses were higher with higher dose. After the second vaccination, the titers increased. After the second vaccination, serum-neutralizing activity was detected by two methods in all participants evaluated … Solicited adverse events that occurred in more than half the participants included fatigue, chills, headache, myalgia, and pain at the injection site. Systemic adverse events were more common after the second vaccination, particularly with the highest dose, and three participants in the 250-μg dose group reported one or more severe adverse events.”
The study concluded, “The mRNA-1273 vaccine induced anti–SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in all participants, and no trial-limiting safety concerns were identified.”
The prospective vaccine would be given twice; the second time one month after the first
Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University Medical Center pointed out of the mild side effects, “Small price to pay for protection against COVID.” He added the results obtained from the study constituted “a good first step,” and surmised that final testing might reveal the vaccine to be ready as 2021 commences, although he warned, “It would be wonderful. But that assumes everything’s working right on schedule.”
In mid-May, The Daily Wire reported, “Moderna’s team conducted Phase 1 tests on eight people, giving each doses of the vaccine and testing whether the vaccine caused the recipients to develop a natural immunity to the coronavirus. The researchers said that all participants tested positive for antibodies against the coronavirus 15 days after their first dose.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci commented on Tuesday that people think “this is a race for one winner. Me, I’m cheering every one of them on. We need multiple vaccines. We need vaccines for the world, not only for our own country.” He concluded, “No matter how you slice it, this is good news.”