[ad_1]
A vaccine against the coronavirus that is safe and at least 50% effective would be a game-changer in the fight against the pandemic, according to a doctor who serves as investigator for Moderna’s clinical trials.
“Developing vaccines against the respiratory virus is incredibly difficult. If you think of the flu vaccine that we use every year, it is only effective about 40% to 60%,” Dr Carlos del Rio said Tuesday. from Emory University on “CNBC’s Squawk Box”. “
The Food and Drug Administration said last month it would allow a vaccine against the coronavirus as long as it is safe and at least 50 percent effective. Dr Stephen Hahn, the agency’s commissioner, said at the time that it would be “unrealistic” to expect a vaccine to be 100% effective.
A vaccine that is 50% effective means that it would reduce the risk of coronavirus infection by 50% for an average person.
“50% efficiency would be transformative. It’s much better than zero, which we have now, ”del Rio told CNBC. “So I think it would be a real game-changer if we got a vaccine with 50% efficacy or more.”
Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, said earlier this month that scientists are hoping a vaccine to prevent the coronavirus would be at least 75% effective. But the White House health adviser said 50% to 60% efficiency would also be acceptable.
“You have to think of the vaccine as a tool so that the pandemic is no longer a pandemic, but to be something that is well controlled,” Fauci said Aug. 7 during a question-and-answer session with School of Public Health from Brown University.
Del Rio said widespread inoculation of a vaccine, even with 50% effectiveness, would help the United States achieve so-called herd immunity – the point where enough people have antibodies to fight the virus and therefore greatly reduce its spread in a population.
“Between the people who have been infected and the people you have vaccinated, 50% of you will get there,” said del Rio, a professor in the infectious disease division at Atlanta-based Emory School of Medicine. He is also co-director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research.
It is possible that people who receive a vaccine for the coronavirus – if it receives regulatory approval – could still be infected, del Rio noted. However, being vaccinated could reduce the risk of serious illness caused by Covid-19, he said.
“One of the theories is that you can still get infected but you won’t develop any complications. You won’t end up in the hospital. You won’t end up in the ICU,” del Rio said. “And that, I think too, would be quite transformative because you will definitely reduce the morbidity and mortality from the disease.”
Del Rio is an investigator for Moderna’s potential coronavirus vaccine. The Massachusetts-based biotech company began its late-stage human trials last month. The National Institutes of Health worked alongside Moderna, which was the first company to launch human trials in the United States in March.
Moderna has received pledges of nearly $ 2.5 billion from the US government to help develop its vaccines. Through Operation Warp Speed, the government is providing billions of dollars to various companies working on a vaccine.
As part of these agreements, companies are increasing their manufacturing capacity to accelerate the deployment of a vaccine, if it proves safe and effective. Del Rio said it was the right strategy.
“So if all goes well you maybe talking about March or April next year where you can say, ‘OK, we have a vaccine and we have a lot of doses to give out to people,'” he said. del Rio.
[ad_2]
Source link