Originally published September 6, 2023 7:50 am PDT
Moderna, Inc. on Wednesday announced that clinical trial data show its updated COVID-19 vaccine, which has neither been approved nor authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “generates an 8.7-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies in humans” against coronavirus variant BA.2.86, also called “Pirola.”
The pharmaceutical company noted that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) indicates that Pirola “may be more capable of causing infection” not only “in people who previously had COVID-19” but also in those who “were vaccinated with previous vaccines.”
The CDC also said that updated COVID vaccines like Moderna’s are not certainly effective in reducing severe disease and hospitalization, but only “may be” effective in doing so.
Moderna’s press release also warned about heart disease linked to their shot.
It confirmed that “[p]ostmarketing data demonstrate increased risks of myocarditis and pericarditis, particularly within 7 days following the second primary series dose or first booster dose.”
The drug manufacturer emphasizes that it cannot demonstrate its new COVID shot protects recipients from becoming infected with the virus.
Rather, Moderna states that “[t]he vaccines may not protect all vaccine recipients.”
Moderna President Dr. Stephen Hoge nevertheless stated, “These results demonstrate that our updated COVID-19 vaccine generates a strong human immune response against the highly mutated BA.2.86 variant. Taken together with our previously communicated results showing a similarly effective response against EG.5 and FL.1.5.1 variants, these data confirm that our updated COVID-19 vaccine will continue to be an important tool for protection as we head into the fall vaccination season.”
“Moderna will continue to rapidly assess global public health threats and is committed to leveraging our mRNA platform against COVID-19,” Dr. Hoge added.
Data taken from the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) show that there have been 1,589,970 injuries, 209,218 hospitalizations, and 36,080 deaths linked to COVID-19 vaccines.
Moderna is owned by BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street and is an official partner of The World Economic Forum (WEF).
