Moderna CEO talks mRNA platform, coronavirus mutations, and boosters

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Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel discusses the outlook for booster shots and vaccine efficacy as the coronavirus mutates.

Video Transcript

- When it comes to the MRNA platform, let's-- let me get nerdy with you for a second here. The MRNA platform does have that quick, very strong efficacy that we saw but also does wane, as do most protection. We do see that with the antibody titers. But is this something that you are looking at? Is it something that needs to be changed or tweaked about the platform to give a longer, maybe more stable protection, or is this just how the technology works?

STEPHANE BANCEL: So I think we should not forget with COVID, which is the virus has changed a lot. And if-- remember when the virus was mutating very slowly like Alpha and Delta in 2021, you saw great performance of a vaccine. We should not forget that with Omicron, the genetic drift was so gigantic in only one step that I think no vaccine, no technology would have been able to evolve efficacy of infection strongly because it's linked to antibodies, and antibodies wane with time. That is not linked to [? our ?] [INAUDIBLE] That is linked to our immune system as humans.

The piece that is very important to see is that despite the lowering of efficacy against infection, the efficacy against hospitalization and deaths are still very, very high. And that's because, as we believe, there is very strong T-cell immune memory component in terms of [? technology. ?] So I think it's a bit like flu, you know? You need to get annual flu shot, not because the protein technology is not good-- I believe it is very good-- but because it's a different virus.

And so you need to re-educate your immune system for this different virus, especially if you are high risk. Again, a 25-year-old who doesn't get an annual flu shot, are they going to die? If they have no comorbidity, highly unlikely. But a 60-year-old person that has a comorbidity factor needs their booster because the antibody is a very important component of their protection.