(Image source from: zeenews.india.com)

While the world is racing against time to develop a viable vaccine for the Covid-19 virus, some of the early data from a US biotech firm showcased a ray of hope. It reported that the vaccine was successful in developing protective antibodies in the small test group that the vaccine was administered on.

The company, Moderna Inc. reported the same on Monday.

The data was reported after the first trial was conducted on 8 people who took part in the vaccine trial that kicked off in March when the world was working tireless to develop the vaccine for the virus to stop the pandemic.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases which conducted the trial with 45 volunteers reported that 8 of the individuals who received two doses of the vaccine produced protective antibodies against the virus and recovered from a natural infection of the virus that caused the Covid-19.

The study was not specifically conducted to test out the efficacy of the virus or to prove whether or not the virus works, has now proved to bring in a ray of hope.

With the findings, the scientists are now investigating how much of the antibodies is enough to keep someone protected from the virus. Additionally, they also want to get a bigger picture into the longevity of the effectiveness of the vaccine.

The vaccine did express a slower dose response, which means that the individuals who were administered with higher doses of the virus produced more antibodies.

With the positive results, the vaccine has also gotten the green light to undergo the second round of human testing and the US regulators last week also gave this the fast track status to speed up the review of the vaccine.

"We are investing to scale up manufacturing so we can maximise the number of doses we can produce to help protect as many people as we can from SARS-CoV-2," said Stephane Bancel, Moderna Chief Executive Officer.

The company’s vaccine is currently at the forefront for the world’s ability to fight this virus. Moderna now expects to start a larger late-stage trial in July.

Currently, there are no approved treatments or vaccine for Covid-19 and the experts have reported that in order to develop a viable and safe vaccine for the virus, it is going to take somewhere between 12-18 months.

The contracts and deals from the company has already been signed with Swiss contract drugmaker Lonza Group AG and the US government to allow large scale production of the vaccine once it has been developed.

The vaccine, termed mRNA-1273,  has already proven to be safe and also tolerated the early stage study, as per the reports from the drug developer.

In terms of side effects, one of the subjects experienced redness around the injection site which is not something extremely severe but a mere Grade-3 side effect. Other than that, no other serious side effects of the vaccine have been reported yet.

By Somapika Dutta