New research shows Moderna vaccine more than 94% effective
UC was one of 99 study sites in the U.S. to conduct trial
New research shows the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is 94.1% effective against the virus.
The phase 3 clinical study involving more than 30,000 adult participants at nearly 100 trial sites was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The University of Cincinnati enrolled 185 patients in the study.
“It’s reassuring that these results show that the vaccine works and that there is a good response and that the response lasts a good six months, which was really the goal of the study,” says Carl Fichtenbaum, MD, co-investigator and medical director of the study and a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Internal Medicine at the UC College of Medicine. “The caveat is that these results don’t reflect the new delta variant circulating and there will be further information that will be forthcoming in this study under the setting of the delta variant of how well the vaccine holds up in that time window.”
Carl Fichtenbaum, MD, of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the UC College of Medicine. Photo/Colleen Kelley/UC Creative + Brand
Individuals who participated in the blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study received either the vaccine or a placebo in two injections. The vaccine was incorporated into the patient’s cells, which began producing a viral antigen to which the immune system responded. Participants kept a daily electronic diary of their symptoms and also completed telehealth and clinic visits with UC Health clinical researchers that will continue over a two-year period.
Fichtenbaum, who is also a UC Health physician, says it took a tremendous team effort by many people at many different levels at UC to conduct this research. The UC Infectious Diseases Research Unit (IDRU) team was led by two nurses, Michelle Saemann and IDRU director Sharon Kohrs. Margaret Powers-Fletcher, PhD, is the study’s local co-principal investigator. Fichtenbaum’s also grateful so many people in communities across the country volunteered to participate.
“It’s simply incredible that so many people stepped up at a time when we knew very little about what would be protective,” says Fichtenbaum. “It’s truly an amazing gift that these 30,000-plus people have given to the rest of the world to help us find effective vaccines that protect people from getting very sick.”
Jarelle Marshall receives a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Photo/Colleen Kelley/UC Creative + Brand
The first participant to receive a dose in the UC/UC Health study in August 2020 was Jarelle Marshall, 37, an information technology professional from Cincinnati.
“We’re all in this together. We all want to get things back open and get back to as normal as possible,” Marshall said at the time. “I always try to teach my son to walk the walk. You can say all these things but to actually walk the walk and do what you say you’re going to do, and if you’re going to try to help people, you just do it.”
The release of the study results come at a time when some people are still hesitant to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Fichtenbaum hopes the science of this research changes some minds.
“The data show that the side effects of the vaccine are very short-lived and are not very serious when one counterbalances that to the severity of getting sick with COVID-19,” says Fichtenbaum. “The safety profile is very good and the benefits are really there which shows that we kept people out of the hospital, we kept them from getting very sick and that the vaccine performed very well in this population.”
Featured image at top by Colleen Kelley/UC Creative + Brand
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