In November 2020, US firm Moderna announced results of human trials on the vaccine it has developed with US National Institutes of Health. The trials found the vaccine 94.5 per cent effective.
- Earlier, Pfizer had also released trial results showing 90 per cent effectiveness in its own vaccine, developed in collaboration with BioNTech-Fosun Pharma.
- Both vaccines use the same technology, based on messenger RNA, or mRNA.
- The Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine use synthetic mRNA that contains information about the coronavirus’s signature spike protein.
- It will instruct the body’s cells to create copies of the spike protein.
- The vaccines essentially work by sneaking in instructions that direct the body to produce a small amount of the spike protein. Once the immune system detects this protein, the body subsequently begins producing protective antibodies.
- The body’s immune system is expected to recognise the spike protein as a potentially harmful foreign substance, and starts building antibodies against it.
- However, some major questions still remain, including how the vaccines perform across different demographics, and how long they are effective.
