According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, the disappointing test results of CureVac have no direct influence on vaccination planning in the Netherlands. There are now enough vaccines to vaccinate anyone over the age of 18, she says. “CureVac would also only come in in the third quarter, while we will already have finished jabbing all 18+ people in August.”
The long-term consequences are not yet clear. “We do not yet know whether we will need additional vaccines later for, for example, an extra booster for vulnerable groups or an annual jab. The EMA and the Health Council are now thinking about this.”
Succescriteria
The CureVac vaccine, officially called CVnCoV, has been tested on approximately 40,000 subjects in Europe and Latin America. According to the German company, the drug did not meet the “pre-determined criteria for success”.
“We had hoped for a better interim outcome,” said CureVac chief executive Franz-Werner Haas. According to him, the company is continuing the research and the effectiveness of the vaccine may still change.
The CureVac product is made using an mRNA technique, just like the vaccines from BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna. With this technique, the vaccine allows the body to make protein that stops the coronavirus.
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