Vaccines made using mRNA technology such as Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech offer the best protection against the COVID-19 Omicron and delta variants.
This was revealed by scientists attending a meeting organized by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to exchange the latest clinical and scientific data with a team from Moderna, one of the COVID-19 vaccines that are currently approved under emergency use criteria.
While there are up to ten vaccine candidates so far approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use, Dr Emilio Fumero, Scientific Director, Europe, Middle East and Africa at Moderna said at the meeting on Thursday afternoon that the latest data reviewed by an independent team of experts show that mRNA vaccines perform better than the rest in boosting and that they should be paid attention to as more new variants emerge.
In this study where they were comparing Moderna and a none mRNA vaccine, he says they saw an increase in neutralizing antibodies against Omicron and the ancestor variants in the arm of Moderna a month after the booster dose and the evidence sustains for up to six months.
mRNA vaccines which are some of the latest vaccine technology use messenger RNA created in a laboratory to teach body cells how to make a protein that triggers an immune response inside the body. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects one from getting infected if the real virus enters the body.
Now, experts are recommending the use of such vaccines as many countries have started allowing populations that have received the initial doses to go for booster doses to guarantee protection with increasing evidence that protection from the vaccine wanes off with time.
Currently in Uganda for instance, the Ministry of Health has released a list with categories of people who need boosters and the vaccines that they are supposed to have.
The eligible categories include people aged 50 years and above, health workers, teachers, religious leaders, cultural leaders, security personnel, media, and drivers and conductors of passenger service vehicles. The others are bodaboda riders, bar and nightclub workers, market workers and vendors.
The boosters are a mix of AstraZeneca which is a viral vector vaccine and the mRNA types.
When it comes to the vaccines to use as boosters, while the country has issued guidance on what’s best to boost with, Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng has said what one can boost with highly depends on the vaccine types available at the moment as according to her all the vaccines are safe.
At a meeting this afternoon, however, scientists said everyone needs a booster dose although when questions of whether people will continue getting jabbed every after six months were raised, officials from Moderna said in future boosters may not be necessary as more data on virulence unfolds.
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