Moderna vaccine is effective against both the British and South African mutated versions

The American biotechnology company Moderna announced in a statement, today, Monday, that the vaccine against Covid-19 it developed is still effective against the British and South African mutated versions of the virus.

Moderna said it is working on developing an additional dose to increase protection against mutated copies.

"The new data is very encouraging, which strengthens our confidence that Moderna’s vaccine against Covid-19 will provide protection from these new, mutated versions," said Moderna Board Chairman Stephane Bansel.

He added, "To be more careful and to take advantage of the flexibility of our vaccine platform, we are working to develop a material that enhances the effectiveness of the vaccine against the mutated version of Covid-19 that first appeared in South Africa."

To study the effects of the existing vaccine, known as MRNI-1273, Moderna took blood samples from eight people who had received two doses of the vaccine, as well as from vaccinated monkeys.

Moderna said, "The study did not show a significant effect on the levels of antibodies against mutated P1.7.1 compared with the other mutated copies" of the British version of Covid-19.

On the other hand, a "six-fold reduction" was recorded for "antibody levels against the South African mutant (P. 1.351)."

And she confirmed at the end of the experiments that experts expect the vaccine to protect against infection of the "mutated versions discovered to date."

The results of the experiments conducted in cooperation with the US National Institutes of Health will be studied by a group of scientists.

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