Moderna says its Covid vaccine is protected from variants under study

US biotech company Moderna announced Tuesday that its COVID-19 vaccine produced neutralizing activity against coronavirus variants, including Delta, in a lab study that has yet to be reviewed.

According to a statement, the vaccine produced an antibody titer for all variants tested “in vitro,” including beta, which was identified in South Africa; Deltas, identified in India, and other deltas identified in Nigeria, Uganda, and Angola.

Moderna, which is working on a clinical development strategy to protect against variants, used serum samples from eight participants obtained a week after the second dose in a phase I clinical trial of the antiviral vaccine.

The study is a preprint document submitted for peer review in the journal BioRxiv, so it has not yet been approved.

“As we strive to defeat the pandemic, it is imperative that we be proactive as the virus evolves. We remain committed to studying emerging variables, and generating and sharing data as soon as it becomes available,” said Stefan Bancel, Morna’s CEO.

Bancel said the data provided is “encouraging” and suggests that the company’s antiviral vaccine “should continue to protect against recently discovered variants.”

“These results underscore the importance of continuing to vaccinate the population with an effective primary series of vaccines,” he added.