Many of you probably already heard that the Moderna vaccine raised a strong immune response in all participants that finished the initial trial. Moderna also has a press release about the results. I took the time to go read the paper in JAMA. If I had to sit down and write the ideal results I would want from a Phase 1 vaccine trial, these would be close.
The one concern in this trial was the frequency of adverse events. A fever was detected in half of the 100 µg group after the second dose of the vaccine. Also, many participants reported chills, myalgia (felling icky), and headache. While most of these were mild I would like to know exactly what mild means. Moderna is in the process of a phase 2 trial of 600 participants with a 50 µg dose to assess if a lower dose will decrease adverse events, yet still, give a strong immune response.
In any case, the vaccine is now approved for a phase 3 trial including 30,000 participants that is scheduled to begin in July.