The biotech firm¡¯s study showed what it called ¡°protective¡± immune responses to both the variant first documented in the U.K. (B.1.1.7) and the variant seen in South Africa (B.1.351).
Yet Bancel gave a stark assessment of the pandemic, saying there is good reason to expect a need for ongoing booster shots to protect against mutations that could propagate other variants of SARS-Cov-2, the virus behind the global COVID-19 outbreak.
¡°I believe SARS-Cov-2 is going to stay with humans forever,¡± Bancel said in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live. ¡°We're going to have to have boosts adapted to a virus, like we have for flu. It's the same thing, they are both mRNA viruses, and we're going to have to live with it forever.¡±
The company announced Monday it was also beginning a test of an additional booster dose of its vaccine, out of an abundance of caution to potentially strengthen the immune response against emerging strains.
Bancel noted that while the original two-dose vaccine did, in fact, preserve a protective response against the South African strain, with neutralizing antibodies diminished six-fold relative to prior variants.
Nonetheless, Bancel said the vaccine still delivered a stronger immune response relative to what would be expected in patients contracting COVID-19, and the company downplayed fears that its vaccine would become ineffective against the newer strains.
Looking ahead, Bancel stressed the importance the booster shot dose, given production capacity constraints already stretched thin amid deliveries of its two-dose vaccine.
https://money.yahoo.com/coronavirus-is-going-to-stay-with-us-forever-moderna-ceo-224622557.html
This is what happens when you don't take the medicine as prescribed.
The Brazil strain has been found in the United states.
The case was identified in a Minnesota resident who had recently traveled to Brazil, the department said, which could suggest that the variant may not yet be widely circulating.
It was only a matter of time before the variant was detected in the United States, said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a Covid adviser to President Biden. ¡°With the world travel that you have, and the degree of transmissibility efficiency, it¡¯s not surprising,¡± he said.
The variant, known as B.1.1.28.1 or P.1, shares many mutations with one first identified in South Africa. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines still protect from the variant circulating in South Africa, the companies have said, but they are slightly less effective. They are expected to perform similarly against the variant identified in Brazil.
And this is why you don't allow epicenter to fester.
He was 
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