Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
The expert asks not to rush to conclude that Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine can prevent transmission of the corona virus. This vaccine made by Moderna was previously claimed to be 94.5 percent effective against Covid-19.
Molecular biologist Ahmad Rusdan Handoyo stated that the claim should not be rushed to the conclusion that it can prevent transmission because there are no final results or scientific articles about the results of clinical trials of the Moderna vaccine.
“It should be remembered that all current vaccine clinical trials are not trying to prove that vaccines are capable of preventing transmission, because to prove that clinical trials have to do PCR swabs on all volunteers every 2 weeks and that would be very expensive,” said Ahmad when contacted. CNNIndonesia.com, Tuesday (17/11).
Ahmad stated that vaccine protection for each volunteer age group for testing the Moderna vaccine has not been disclosed in the article. Ahmad stated that it was necessary to ask which age group received 94.5 percent protection.
“We still have to see at what age range the protection against severe symptoms occurs, so we still have to wait for the full article later. So don’t rush and wait patiently for the final results,” said Ahmad.
To assess whether a vaccine is effective in providing protection against infection, researchers have set a target that of the total people tested, both the placebo group and the vaccine test injection recipients, there were at least 150 incidents of Covid-19 infection and including the symptoms that occurred.
Generally, the independent team that has been formed will carry out an examination of the vaccine research process at a specified number of events, for example 50 and 100 and 150.
“So the standard or minimal criteria for the Covid-19 vaccine to be considered effective is 150 cases of Covid-19 (symptomatic), where 100 cases occurred in the group of volunteers who received a placebo and a maximum of 50 cases occurred in the group given the vaccine,” said Ahmad.
Moderna said Ahmad had collected 95 cases of Covid-19. What is interesting is that of the 95 cases, 5 cases occurred in the vaccine group, meaning 90 cases occurred in the placebo group.
Ahmad said this fact was quite encouraging because it meant that there were only a few recipients of the Moderna vaccine who contracted Covid-19 compared to those who received placebo.
“So if this trend persists until it reaches 150, then the effectiveness of the vaccine to prevent Covid-19 symptoms is indeed above 90 percent. Far above the minimalist criteria,” said Ahmad.
Ahmad also revealed interesting things not only from the number of Covid-19 cases but also the severe symptoms experienced by the placebo group. Moderna found 11 cases of severe symptoms and 11 of these cases were all in the placebo group.
Even though the clinical trial target does not hope to prove that it can protect against severe symptoms or death, which is important symptomatic and of course confirmed by the PCR test.
“So the presence of severe symptoms in Moderna’s clinical trials is certainly good from a scientific perspective, especially if someone dies in the placebo volunteer group,” said Ahmad.
Another interesting thing, said Ahmad, is that Moderna claims this RNA-type vaccine does not require cold temperatures for storage. Whereas Pfizer’s RNA vaccine requires temperatures below minus 70 degrees Celsius.
This claim is a good sign to facilitate the logistics process and distribution of vaccines as vaccines can be stored in the normal refrigerator.
“Moderna claims that storage does not require -70 degrees Celsius and can use a regular refrigerator. If it is true, the logistics will be easier. They must have made some kind of chemical modification to make it more stable,” said Ahmad.
(jnp / DAL)
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