The majority of people who received Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine maintained both binding and functional antibodies against coronavirus variants for six months after the second dose, according to a study published Aug. 12 in Science.
The study looked at the following variants of concern: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon and iota.
Researchers tested sera from a random sample of eight volunteers in three age groups: 18-55, 55-70, and 71 and older. All participants had samples available for four timepoints: four weeks after the first dose, two weeks after the second dose, 3 months after the second dose and six months after the second dose.
"These data support the durable efficacy of 93 percent seen with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine through six months. We expect that these data and the growing body of real-world evidence will help inform health regulators’ approaches to how and when to administer additional boosting doses," Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a news release.