RELATED: Moderna Just Made This Major Announcement About Its COVID Vaccine. The latest findings, which were published in the journal Science on Sept. 14, come from a team of researchers from La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) who set out to study how long immunity against COVID-19 would last in patients given the Modern mRNA vaccine at different dosage levels. The team compared the immune responses seen in recovered COVID patients with those who had received two 25 microgram (mg) injections of the vaccine 28 days apart—which is a quarter of the 100 mg doses currently administered in shots—during phase one clinical trials.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb The team found that even the lower dose generated strong CD4+ (helper) T cell, CD8+ (killer) T cell, and antibody responses for at least six months after the second shot was administered. They concluded that the immune response would likely last much longer beyond the initial window, with data showing that all age groups saw a sustained immune memory—even those in the highly vulnerable 70-and-older demographic. “This time point is critical because that is when true immune memory has formed,” Daniela Weiskopf, PhD, a co-leader on the study and a research assistant professor from LJI, said in a statement. “The immune memory was stable, and that was impressive,” Shane Crotty, PhD, a co-leader on the study from LJI, added. “That’s a good indicator of the durability of mRNA vaccines.” Still, he noted that the results still cannot determine if a lower dose offers the same level of protection as those currently being administered, saying that “it would take a clinical trial” to determine the actual efficacy. RELATED: Dr. Fauci Warns You Not to Do This If You Got Moderna. The newly published results appear to add to a mounting body of evidence from other researchers that Moderna shots generate a larger immune response. One such study published on Aug. 16 in JAMA Internal Medicine analyzed the vaccine response in more than 950 health care workers from the John Hopkins Health System. Results found that those who received Moderna developed more spike IgG antibodies than those who got Pfizer. And even beyond the generated antibody response, recent research from the Mayo Clinic also showed how much more protective Moderna might be than Pfizer. According to this study, which was preprinted Aug. 8 on medRxiv, people who received Moderna’s vaccine had a two-fold risk reduction for breakthrough infection compared to those who got Pfizer shots. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. “Our observational study highlights that while both mRNA COVID-19 vaccines strongly protect against infection and severe disease, further evaluation of mechanisms underlying differences in their effectiveness such as dosing regimens and vaccine composition are warranted,” the Mayo Clinic researchers concluded. The LJI team announced they plan to continue research that will help determine how protective other types of vaccines are against COVID-19. But for now, Weiskopf notes that real-world data shows currently available shots appear to maintain their effectiveness over time. “The people in the hospitals are the ones not vaccinated,” she said. RELATED: If You’re Over 60, This Is How Much a Pfizer Booster Protects You, Study Says.
