In fact, it is amazing to see the progress made daily in creating safe and effective vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, the new crownvirus guilty of COVID-19. In fact, months earlier than ever for a new emerging infection, several promising vaccines are already making their way through Phase 3 studies, the maximum level of clinical evaluation. I remain positive that we will have one or more vaccines that will be safe and effective until January 2021.
But, despite how encouraging the initial knowledge was, uncertainty remains as to whether vaccines that appear and are effective in generating antibodies in young adults will also work in the elderly. life-threatening ailments if they get sick with COVID-19.
I am pleased to highlight some recent findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine [1], from an initial Phase 1 clinical trial that has been expanded to include 40 adults over the age of 55. and broader studies, this early knowledge recommends that a state-of-the-art COVID-19 vaccine developed jointly through the NIH Vaccine Research Centre (CKV), in partnership with Moderna Inc. , Cambridge, MA, be well tolerated and effective in generating a strong immune reaction when administered to adults of all ages.
The central part of the vaccine in question, known as mRNA-1273, is a small non-infectious extract of messenger RNA (mRNA). When this mRNA is injected into the muscle, a person’s own framework begins to produce the main viral protein peak. When the immune formula detects this complex protein, it stimulates the production of antibodies that can repel the new SARS-CoV-2.
Previous findings from the NIH-backed Phase 1 human clinical trial showed that mSA-1273 was effective in generating a physically powerful immune reaction in others over the age of 18 to 55, when administered in two injections about a month apart. , a giant Phase 3 clinical trial is lately recruiting 30,000 volunteers, with expected effects in the coming weeks [2]. But since the immune reaction to many other vaccines has a tendency to weaken with age, how well would this new 19 paints of vaccines for the elderly be?
To find out, a team from the Kaiser Permanente Washington Institute of Health Research in Seattle and Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta expanded the initial Phase 1 trial to include 20 healthy volunteers over the age of 56 to 70 and 20 other healthy volunteers over the age of 71. Ten volunteers from the two older teams obtained a lower dose of the vaccine (25 micrograms) in two injections given one month apart. The remaining 10 in the organization by age earned a higher dose (100 micrograms), administered in the same pattern.
Here’s what they found:
No volunteer has suffered from serious adverse occasions. Maximum non-unusual adverse occasions were mild to moderate in severity and included headache, fatigue, muscle aches, chills and pain at the injection site. These symptoms appeared at most after the dose at the moment and in others receiving the highest dose of one hundred micrograms.
Volunteers showed immediate production of protective antibodies opposed to complex protein after immunization. After the time of injection, all participants showed a strong immune response, with the production of binding and neutralization antibodies opposed to SARS-CoV-2.
The higher dose of one hundred micrograms safely produced a more potent immune reaction at the reduced dose, supporting its use in broader clinical studies.
• More importantly, the immune reaction observed in older people was comparable to that seen in the past in young adults.
Researchers will continue to monitor volunteer trial participants of all ages for approximately one year to monitor the long-term effects of the vaccine, but these effects supported the continuation of this promising vaccine in the elderly as a component of the ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial.
Lately there are 4 SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in Phase 3 clinical trials in the United States (although lately two are on hold). Trials of two more vaccines are expected to begin in the next two months.
It is not known whether all these vaccines will have the same strong immune reaction in the elderly as demonstrated for the elderly, but if many of these vaccines are safe and effective, it will be vital to know the reaction in the populations, so that distribution to high-risk equipment can be planned accordingly.
References:
[1] Safety and immunogenicity of the mNSA-1273 vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 in the elderly. Anderson EJ, Rouphael NG, Widge AT, Jackson LA, Roberts PC, Makhene M, Chappell JD, Denison MR, Stevens LJ, Pruijssers AJ, McDermott AB, Flach B, Lin BC, Doria-Rose NA, O’Dell S, Schmidt SD, Corbett KS, Swanson PA 2nd, Padilla M, Neuzil KM, Bennett H, Leav B, Makowski M, Albert J, Cross K, Edara VV, Floyd K, Suthar MS, Buchanan W, Luke CJ , Phadke VK, Rostad CA, Ledgerwood JE, Graham BS, Beigel JH; MNR-1273 Study Group. N Engl J Med. 2020 September 29.
[2] “Initiation of 3 clinical trials of the experimental vaccine COVID-19”. National Institutes of Health. 27 July 2020
Links:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) (NIH)
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) COVID-19 Prevention Network
Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases / NIH)
Modern, Inc. (Cambridge, MA)
Safety and immunogenicity of the 2019-nCoV vaccine (mRA-1273) for the prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) (ClinicalTrials. gov)
NIH Support: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Lots of information. I enjoyed reading it. Thank you
NIH’s @theNCI SeroNet, which includes 25 of the academic, government and personal biomedical studies in the country . . . https://t. co/7Jx5P59A65 4 days ago
Could mix anti-coronavirus hIVIG (pooled antibodies from other people’s plasma donations recovered from COVID-19 . . . https://t. co/foW7Mf8NnH 4 days ago
Today at 1:45 p. m. ET, I’ll talk to dr. Jennifer Doudna @doudna_lab of her 2020NobelPrize by finding CRISPR, . . . https://t. co/YiFa1W8JvA days ago
Kendall Morgan, Ph. D.
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