This COVID-19 vaccine`s immunity lasts for three months, study says

New Delhi: The COVID-19 vaccine produced by Moderna produces antibodies that can last for at least three months, a study showed on Thursday.

The study was published by researchers at the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). They collected data of the the immune response of 34 adult participants, both young and old, from the first stage of a clinical trial. The NIAID with Moderna co-developed the vaccine. 

The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers asserted that the antibodies, which stop the SARS-CoV-2 virus from invading human cells, "declined slightly over time, as expected, but they remained elevated in all participants 3 months after the booster vaccination," as reported by AFP.

The vaccine, called mRNA-1273, is administered in two doses within 28 days. Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines too are based on a new technology that uses genetic material in the form of mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid).

The study states that the immunogenicity data 119 days after the first dose and 90 days after the second vaccination showed that mRNA-1273 produced high levels of binding and neutralising antibodies at the 100g dose.

The director of NIAID Anthony Fauci and other experts have opined that it is very likely that the immune system will remember the virus if re-exposed later on, and then produce new antibodies.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee will review the vaccine on 17 December.

The Moderna vaccine had recently demonstrated to have an efficacy of 94 per cent.