Vaccines On The Run? Moderna Is Already On It.

TheRaceAgainstThe
VariantsVille


Yesterday, a consortium of researchers from Moderna and the US National Institutes of Health posted a yet to be peer-reviewed 'pre-print' in which they conclude that the antibodies generated by their mRNA-based vaccine work just fine in 'neutralizing' the UK COVID variant in an experimental setting. However, the vaccine is not as good at generating such antibodies against the South African variant.

This, and I'm speculating a little here, is likely because of the significant changes in the viral 'spike' protein that occur in the South African variant.

The general scientific consensus so far, which Lauren Pelley of the CBC covers well here,  is that the vaccine will likely still have efficacy in people. I sure hope so, but only time and clinical data will really tell.

The upside to all of this is that Moderna is already working on re-engineering their mRNA payload (which is the bit of the vaccine that causes our cells to make their own spike protein that we then make protective 'neutralizing' antibodies against) in the hopes that it will then be effective against the variant concerned.

Essentially, this means that Moderna is already at work in making a new booster. Here is how Denise Grady et al. described this effort in the NY Times:

...As a precaution, Moderna has begun developing a new form of its vaccine that could be used as a booster shot against the variant in South Africa. “We’re doing it today to be ahead of the curve, should we need to,” Dr. Tal Zaks, Moderna’s chief medical officer, said in an interview. “I think of it as an insurance policy.”...


The technology here really is amazing and, from a technical point of view, it can be done quickly due to the process involved in producing these mRNA vaccines. 

But will this rapid fix actually work? Again, only time and both experimental as well as clinical data will tell. 

Rolling out yet another form of the vaccine, however, still poses all of the more mundane population health-based logistical issues as well as the supply and delivery problems we are all dealing with right now though in our race against the variants.

OK?

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If you're interested in the specifics and some of the science of the 'variants', this Twitter thread by Mt. Sinai virologist Florian Krammer is really excellent.

Disclaimer: I am a cell and molecular biologist but I am not a virologist...Thus, I am not an expert in this field. However, I am paying attention...That said, please take my musings with a grain of salt...A real expert to follow is a fellow named Derek Lowe. 


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