Moderna vaccine is effective for at least 6 months

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Just last week Pfizer announced that studies showed that their COVID-19 vaccine was effective for at least six months. Tuesday doctors made the same claim regarding the Moderna vaccine, according to a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine.

Moderna’s studies show that across all age groups antibodies were present, active and effective for six months following the second dose of the vaccine.

Dr. Robert Salata is an infectious disease expert at the University Hospitals where they have been involved in the Pfizer trial.

“We are following the individuals in both Moderna and Pfizer trials for 26 months after their 2nd vaccine so this is at 6 months so, so far so good,” said Dr. Robert Salata, an infectious disease expert at the University Hospitals, which have been involved in the Pfizer trial.

The work to fight the virus continues and Salata said both companies are working right now to determine if and how a booster to the vaccine would work best.

Both companies, he said, are involved in research that could lead to new generation vaccines that could help fight new variants.

“Both companies are now hedging their bets, so to speak, on our behalf, in the event that the virus changes more dramatically so that could mobilize a new vaccine,” Salata said.

In the case of a new vaccine, Salata believes that the FDA would be primed to act quickly regarding emergency use as the majority of the research for a new vaccine would be similar to how the current vaccine was produced.

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