The US federal government is struggling to grow limited supply of covid-19 vaccines. A new suggests the proposal administering half a dose of Modern vaccine to individuals, but IIt is not yet clear whether Modern or Health agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration, would be on board for this idea even if the strategy is scientifically sound.
The idea was has announced by Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser to the government’s Operation Warp Speed program, during an interview on CBS’s “Make the Nation” program on Sunday morning. According to Slaoui, the half-dose plan would be the best option to extend the vaccine supply. Another similar idea suggests giving people only the first dose either the Moderna vaccine or the Pfizer vaccine, which have been authorized on a two-dose schedule, with the vaccines administered a month away.
“We know that for the Moderna vaccine, the administration of half the dose to people aged between 18 and 55, two doses, half the dose, which means the exact fulfillment of the goal of immunizing twice the number of people with the doses we have “Slaoui said on Sunday.
Slaoui, an expert microbiologist and former chief vaccine researcher at GlaxoSmithKline, no doubt refers to a subset of data from early clinical trials of the Moderna vaccine. Some people between the ages of 18 and 55 received two 50-doses of milligrams of vaccine, as opposed to 100 milligrams – the amount currently allowed per dose. These people appeared to create a similar immune response to the coronavirus as those who received the two 100-doses of milligrams. Some animal research has also suggested the same pattern.
While many external experts did not fired the direct idea, there is concerns about the viability of the plan. For one, data it is very limited. Of the more than 15,000 volunteers who received the Moderna vaccine in clinical trials, only about 200 people received lower doses. This means that the evidence that the vaccine is extremely effective (around 95%) in the prevention of covid-19 disease is based almost entirely on 100-dosage of milligrams. While both groups appear to have similar immune responses on paper, scientists are not yet sure how these responses translate into protecting people from disease.
G / O Media may receive a commission
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to the plan is that it may not really solve us the current problem. There are indeed a limited amount of vaccine doses available, but the doses we have do not reach people in the first place. Only about 4 million Americans they are believed to have received the vaccine in early January, well below the forecast of 40 million doses that are said to be available by the end of last year. Both big cities and small towns suffer delays in vaccinating as many people as possible, while doses are close out of date in some cases. Equally worrying are the stories of many people – inclusive health workers“By no means refusing to take the vaccine.” As much as he has half the country he expressed hesitantly to be vaccinated, according to recent surveys.
We can finally overcome these obstacles and they already exist rEPORTS of eligible persons who are removed from vaccination in some areas. So any plan to make more of the doses we have will probably get serious attention. Neither Moderna nor the FDA responded to a request for comment from Gizmodo on the proposal.