US-Based Moderna's Covid-19 Vaccine Clears Safety Test In Mouse Study, Final-Stage Testing On 30,000 People To Begin In July

One of the leading potential Covid-19 vaccines being developed by United States (US) based Moderna Inc has cleared a key safety hurdle in a study conducted on mice, reports Livemint.

The development gains significance as prior studies on a vaccine developed against SARS had suggested that such vaccines could have an unintended effect of causing more severe disease if the vaccinated person later gets exposed to the pathogen, especially in the individuals who do not produce an adequately strong immune response.

However, it should be noted that even though the data released by the US National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) and Moderna are promising, the successful testing of Moderna's m on mice is not a guarantee that the vaccine is safe to be subjected to humans.

As of now, the vaccine is in midstage of testing in healthy volunteers and Moderna is planning to begin the final stage of testing in July by enrolling 30,000 people.

If the vaccine succeeds, it could come as a major boost for the global fight against the pandemic which has lead to over 75 lakh cases and 4.25 lakh deaths globally.