Moderna’s Coronavirus Vaccine Spurs Immune Response: Early Data
As of 18th May 2020, drug maker Moderna, who were developing the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine announced that a candidate coronavirus vaccine test is successful and it can safely generate a considerable amount of immunity against the COVID-19 virus. This data was completely based on phase 1 of their clinical trials of the vaccine. According to reports, two doses of the vaccine were given to eight different volunteers. All those eight recipients well tolerated the reactions of the vaccines, with no such major health issues. Only one of them suffered from a mild redness just around the site of the injection.
All those eight volunteers reportedly created antibodies in response to them. When those antibody samples were tested in the cells of a human body, they easily stopped the COVID-19 virus from replicating, thereby neutralizing the virus.
These promising results were enough for Moderna to start with phase 2 of clinical trials. As per the reports, Phase 2 of coronavirus vaccine trials will soon commence and then accordingly Phase 3 trials should start by the mid of August 2020.
Dosage Of COVID-19 Vaccine
These clinical trials surely helped Moderna in narrowing down the exact dosage of the vaccine. The volunteers receive 25, 100, or 250 micrograms of the lipid particles which consisted of mRNA transcripts for the COVID-19 spike proteins. These were delivered on a 0.5mm shot. The immune response results are available only for the medium and low-level doses given to the individuals. The highest of all these doses caused headaches, muscle aches, and fever. In their detailed statement, Moderna clearly mentioned that they would be focusing on 100 and 50 microgram doses in the future.
As per Tal Zaks, the chief medical officer of Moderna, he says that 25 micrograms of the dosage are perfect but in order to be safe there has to be a safe margin. He even adds that their team is on the process of narrowing down to somewhere between 25 to 100 micrograms of the vaccine dose to play on the safe side. Zak on his statement to the New York Times said that the lesser the dosage, the more number of vaccines can be created.
If all the upcoming trials of the COVID-19 vaccine goes well, then it will be ready to administer by the end of this year or in the first few months of the next year.
While all the countries across the world are facing the coronavirus pandemic with courage, the nurses, doctors, and the medical facility remains to be in the front line of defense. Recent data suggest that there is a big shortage of medical authorities and trained nurses in the United States. In order to fill that shortage, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, along with some other American government institutions came up with some great plans and ideas. These plans include several notifications for the Higher education institutes and the nursing schools of the US to fight bravely against this pandemic. Erudite online nursing school came up with an idea to provide online courses including some accelerated nursing programs to further help the nurses fight against the dreaded Coronavirus disease.
Sources-
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/controlprevention.html#health
Note: The foregoing article and information contained therein may be copyrighted and may not be reproduced in part or entirety without advance written permission. For permissions or editorial corrections, contact: Ms. Kelsey Hanna, khanna@EruditeNursing.education. All information is provided for informational purposes and deemed to be correct at the time of publication, but may change with or without notice; no guarantees are made as to accuracy and all liability is hereby released as to the same.
