Levels of coronavirus antibodies in the body are a good indicator of the effectiveness of the vaccine, according to a US study of people vaccinated with Moderna. This finding will help speed up clinical trials of vaccines in the future.
Scientists and regulators to date rely on large placebo-controlled clinical trials to determine whether a new vaccine against Covid-19 "it works". But a new study by scientists from the Fred Hutchinson Research Center, the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Moderna shows that measuring the level of antibodies in vaccinated people is also a representative indicator of the effectiveness of the vaccine. a human.
The study, which analyzed data from a clinical trial in 30.000 people and has not yet been published in a scientific journal, according to Reuters, found that the Moderna vaccine is more effective in vaccinated people with high levels of antibodies. These vaccinated are less likely to be subsequently infected with the coronavirus.
Finding a reliable alternative vaccine efficacy indicator is expected to accelerate the approval of new vaccines in the future, without the need for costly and time-consuming large placebo-controlled trials, according to researcher Dr Peter Gilbert of the Hutchinsiton Institute.
As he mentioned, in combination with the accumulation of similar data from the Pfizer / BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines, the belief is gradually formed that the antibodies can indeed be used as an alternative indicator of whether the coronavirus vaccines "work".