Results from an early safety analysis of Moderna Inc’s coronavirus vaccine candidate in older adults showed that it developed virus-neutralizing antibodies at levels close to those seen in younger adults, with side effects generally on par with high-dose flu shots, researchers said Tuesday.
The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, gives a more comprehensive description of the efficacy of the vaccine in older adults, a population at elevated risk of serious complications from COVID-19.
The results are encouraging because immunity continues to decline with age, Dr. Evan Anderson, one of Emory University’s leading researchers at Atlanta, said in a telephone interview.
The research was an expansion of the Moderna Phase I safety experiment, first performed in persons aged 18-55 years. Two doses of Moderna vaccine-25 micrograms and 100 micrograms-were evaluated in 40 people aged 56 to 70 and 71 years and older.
Overall, the team observed that in older adults who received two injections of 100 microgram doses of 28 days apart, immune responses were essentially comparable with those seen in younger adults.
Moderna is currently evaluating the higher dose in a broad Phase III trial, the final stage before obtaining an immediate authorization or consent.
Side effects, including headache, nausea, body aches, chills, and injection site discomfort, were found mostly mild to moderate.
However, in at least two cases, volunteers had serious reactions.
One experienced grade three fever, which is graded as 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit (39 ° C ) or higher despite getting a lower dose of vaccine. Another exhaustion formed so severely that it momentarily hindered day-to-day operations, Anderson said.
Normally, the side effects arose shortly after the vaccine was obtained and were treated rapidly, he added.
“This is close to what many older people are likely to feel with a high-dose influenza vaccine,” Anderson said. “Maybe they may feel off or have a fever.”
Norman Hulme, the 65-year-old senior interactive engineer at Emory who took the lower dose of the vaccine, said he was pressured to take part in the experiment after he had witnessed first responders in New York and Washington State battle the outbreak.
“I really didn’t have any side effects at all, “said Hulme, who grew up in New York City.
Hulme said he was aware that Moderna’s vaccine used advanced technologies, and that there could be a risk of taking it, but added, “Somebody had to do it.”
