U.S. biotechnology company Moderna said its COVID-19 vaccine has also been effective in preventing mutant viruses that have occurred in the UK and South Africa respectively.
However, it has been shown to be significantly less effective against the South African mutant virus.
In an experiment conducted in collaboration with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Moderna announced that its vaccine produced enough virus neutralizing antibodies to mutant viruses in Britain and South Africa, respectively.
This means that two doses of modder or vaccine can be expected to prevent COVID-19, a variant known to date.
However, for the South African mutant virus, Modena vaccines produced only one-sixth of the level of neutralizing antibodies compared to general COVID-19.
Modena explained that this level of neutralizing antibody is above the level that can protect the inoculator from the South African mutant virus, but it has also been shown that immunity against the South African mutant may weaken more rapidly.
Moderna plans to enter clinical trials soon by developing'Booster Shot', which is a modified version of the existing vaccine in order to increase the preventive effect against mutations in South Africa.
Stephen Bangsel Modena, CEO, made a statement and said, "We will conduct a clinical trial to see if the recently created'mutation booster' candidate targeting the South African mutant virus will be more effective against the South African mutation and other mutations that may arise in the future. "I said.