Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Appears to Be Effective in Older Adults, Study Finds

By Dana Cruz Sep 30 2020, 03:39 AM EDT

Massachusetts Based Biotech Company Moderna Receives FDA Approval To Continue Coronavirus Vaccine Trials — A view of Moderna headquarters on May 08, 2020 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Moderna was given FDA approval to continue to phase 2 of Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine trials with 600 participants. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine appears to be as effective in older people as it does in younger adults, a small study found.

The New England Journal of Medicine published the safety study on Tuesday, which found that the COVID-19 vaccine triggered an immune response almost as strong in people aged 56 years old or higher as it does to younger people.

The findings were a positive sign not just for Moderna, but also for many Americans as recent COVID-19 vaccines don't work as well with the elderly, the USA Today noted.

As per Reuters, the Moderna study also offers a "more complete picture" of the COVID-19 vaccine's safety in the older age group.

"This is very promising but it's also somewhat surprising," said immunologist David Dowling.

As many people know, COVID-19 is riskier for older people. In fact, people 50 to 64 years old are four times more likely to be hospitalized. They are also 30 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than young adults.

The Moderna study was conducted by scientists at Emory University in Atlanta. It included two groups with 20 participants each. One group was made up of people aged 56 and 70 and the other with people aged 71 and over.

Participants came from Atlanta, Seattle and Bethesda, Maryland. The findings were then compared to earlier reports on younger vaccine recipients of ages 18 to 55.

Moderna's Findings

Dr. Evan Anderson, lead author of the paper, said the immune responses in the older age group were "very comparable to that of the young adults."

The newest study was an extension of the earlier examination of Moderna's Phase I safety trial. It tested two doses of the Moderna vaccine: 25 micrograms and 100 micrograms.

Overall, the team of researchers concluded that there were effective responses in older adults who received two injections of the 100 microgram dose. They each took a dose 28 days apart.

Moderna is also conducting tests on the higher dose and is now on the Phase III trial. It is the final stage before asking for emergency approval or authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Side Effects of the Moderna Vaccine

Just like any form of medication, the Moderna vaccine showed some side effects. Some of these side effects are headache, fatigue, body aches, chills and injection site pain.

But Moderna found that these side effects were mainly mild to moderate. There were, however, two cases of volunteers having severe reactions to the vaccine.

One of the participants developed grade three fever and the other developed severe fatigue after receiving the lower dose. A grade three fever is classified as one that is 102.2 degree Fahrenheit or above.

The participant who suffered from fatigue experienced fatigue that was so severe that it temporarily halted daily activities, Anderson said.

Anderson noted that the side effects usually occur soon after getting the vaccine but can be resolved quickly.

"This is similar to what a lot of older adults are going to experience with the high dose influenza vaccine," he said.

The Moderna vaccine is a front runner among four candidates on the vaccine race. But there is no data available yet on how well it can protect people from getting COVID-19.