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Moderna chief scientist says his vaccine stops the coronavirus from making people sick – but the shot CANNOT stop you from spreading the virus
- Moderna medical director Tal Zaks told Axios the company does not have data on whether their vaccine is preventing people from spreading the virus.
- Moderna announced earlier this month that his injection was 94.5% effective in preventing people from getting sick or seriously ill from coronavirus during testing
- But because the company hasn’t tested asymptomatic participants, it doesn’t know whether those vaccinated can be silent carriers and spreaders, Zaks said.
- He added he thought the vaccine should prevent viral spread – but doesn’t have the data to prove it.
Moderna’s vaccine may not stop people who catch coronavirus from passing it on to others, the company’s chief scientist admitted.
But Tal Zaks added that he “ believed ” the coup would – trials just haven’t tested this in a recent https yet. Axios interview.
He urged Americans not to “ overinterpret ” the results of the vaccine’s promising trials, which have shown it to be 94.5% effective in preventing people from getting sick from the coronavirus.
Neither Pfizer nor Moderna have used methods in their vaccine trials that allow them to say with certainty whether their vaccines prevent transmission.
Although his trials are still ongoing, the first data released on Monday by AstraZeneca suggests that the vaccine he developed with the University of Oxford may in fact prevent the spread of the virus.
Moderna knows her vaccine can prevent coronavirus disease, but her trials haven’t revealed whether the shot prevents people from becoming asymptomatic spreaders
“Our results show that this vaccine can keep you from getting sick, it can keep you from getting seriously sick,” Zaks told Axios.
“They don’t show that this vaccine can prevent you from potentially transiently carrying the virus and infecting other people.
Like most vaccines, Moderna does not kill the virus if you inhale it, so the vaccine itself does not kill the virus.
Instead, it’s designed with the goal of preventing the virus from attaching itself to receptors in human cells that let the virus find its way into those cells.
Viruses exist in a strange sort of purgatory between living and non-living things. Unlike more complex human cells, viruses cannot produce their own energy.
Instead, they must hijack the machinery of human or animal cells, hack that energy, and allow the virus to copy itself.
Without entering our cells and taking care of them for its own purposes, the virus cannot replicate itself.
And a lower viral load usually means the virus is less likely to be strong enough to infect someone else.
But Moderna has not proven it.
According to Science Magazine, Pfizer and Moderna only tested trial members who developed potential symptoms of COVID-19 symptoms for the virus.
Without knowing which other trial members might have been asymptomatic spreaders, there was no way to say for sure whether the vaccine was preventing them from infecting others.
“When we start rolling out this vaccine, we won’t have enough hard data to prove that this vaccine reduces transmission,” Zaks said.
“Do I think it prevents transmission?” Absolutely, yes, but I saw this because of the science.
“ But in the absence of evidence, I think it’s important not to change behavior just on the basis of vaccination, ” Zaks added, suggesting that Americans continue to use non-medical methods like the wearing of masks and social distancing to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Moderna will continue to collect data if and when its shot obtains an emergency clearance. This additional data can tell the company whether its injection can prevent the virus from spreading.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca asked all trial participants to dab at home, which allowed them to test whether the vaccine was preventing people from having a communicable coronavirus or simply preventing the virus from spreading. make them sick.
Its testing is ongoing, but the company said on Monday the data looked promising that the shot could prevent the spread.
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