Moderna vaccine is second to exceed expectations; mutated virus may be
more vulnerable to new vaccines
Send a link to a friend
[November 18, 2020]
By Nancy Lapid
(Reuters) - The following is a roundup of
some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and
efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused
by the virus.
Vaccine from Moderna is second to exceed expectations in pivotal trial
Moderna Inc's experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing
COVID-19 based on interim data from a late-stage trial, the company said
on Monday. That followed last week's news that Pfizer Inc's vaccine was
also more than 90% effective based on initial data. Pending more safety
data and regulatory review, the United States could have two vaccines
authorized for emergency use in December. Both vaccines employ synthetic
messenger RNA (mRNA), which coaxes cells to make certain virus proteins
that the immune system sees as a threat and mounts a response against.
Moderna's trial involved 30,000 racially diverse U.S. adults, including
people at high risk for severe COVID-19. Only five of the 95 COVID-19
cases in the initial analysis occurred in participants who received the
vaccine, while the rest had received a placebo. The vaccine,
administered in two shots 28 days apart, also appeared to prevent cases
of severe COVID-19. Side effects, largely occurring after the second
shot, included muscle aches, fever, headache and redness at the
injection site. Moderna's vaccine does not need ultra-cold storage like
Pfizer's, making it easier to distribute. Moderna expects it to be
stable at normal refrigerator temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (36
to 48°F) for 30 days and can be stored for up to 6 months at -20C.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Nov/18/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png)
Mutated virus may be more vulnerable to new vaccines
The mutated form of the new coronavirus that is now the most common
strain worldwide is more infectious but may also be more vulnerable to
vaccines under development, new research suggests. In experiments
reported on Thursday in Science, researchers saw that the newer strain,
which originated in Europe, is more efficient at infecting airway cells
and at making copies of itself, although it does not appear to produce
more severe illness. The D614G mutation causes a "flap" to open on the
tip of a spike on the surface of the virus, improving its ability to
break into cells, but also creating a pathway for antibodies in vaccines
to enter the virus and disable it, the researchers explained in a
statement. New SARS-CoV-2 mutations are continually emerging, "like the
recently discovered mink SARS-CoV-2 cluster 5 variant in Denmark that
also encodes D614G," coauthor Ralph Baric of the University of North
Carolina School of Medicine said in the statement. "We must continue to
track and understand the consequences of these new mutations on disease
severity, transmission, host range and vulnerability to vaccine-induced
immunity," he added.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/111820PIX/news_L23.jpg)
A 3D-printed coronavirus model is seen in front of a world map and
the words "CoronaVirus Disease (Covid-19)" on display in this
illustration taken March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
Paper forms pose coronavirus risk for lab staff
When laboratory personnel are processing COVID-19 tests, there is a
small risk that the paper forms accompanying the specimens can be
contaminated with the new coronavirus, a new report cautions.
Researchers at the Birmingham Public Health Laboratory in the UK
analyzed randomly selected paper forms and specimen packaging during
a period when the team was processing about 700 COVID-19 tests
daily. Of the 37 items they tested, one piece of paperwork carried
genetic material from the coronavirus. The form had come from a
low-risk hospital ward, and the specimen from the patient was
negative for the virus, "indicating contamination may be occurring
as a result of environmental or healthcare worker contamination,"
the researchers wrote on Thursday in the Journal of Hospital
Infection. They call for "stringent laboratory practices" - hand
hygiene, appropriate personal protective equipment - and "use of
electronic test requesting where possible."
Open https://tmsnrt.rs/3a5EyDh in an external browser for a Reuters
graphic on vaccines and treatments in development.
(Reporting by Nancy Lapid, Julie Steenhuysen and Michael Erman;
Editing by Bill Berkrot)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Nov/18/images/ads/current/lcdj_lda_FFARM_2020.png)
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Nov/18/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png) |