What you need to know about the Moderna jab as first supplies arrive
The Moderna vaccine is the third to be administered in the UK and people in Wales were the first to receive it when patients in Carmarthen were given it yesterday.
It was ruled safe and effective by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in January after stringent trials.
Supplies arrived in Wales on Tuesday, with 5,000 doses sent to vaccination centres in the Hywel Dda University Health Board area covering West Wales. The first doses were administered at the West Wales General Hospital in Glangwili, Carmarthen.
It follows the rollout of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, which began in December and January respectively.
The company behind the new vaccine has already said it is effective against both the Kent variant and the South Africa variant of the virus, which both spread faster and could be more deadly.
The rollout of the new vaccine in Wales has come at a perfect time, as Darren Hughes, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, said they were expecting a decrease in supply of the Oxford vaccine this month.
He told BBC Radio Wales: “We were expecting a reduction in the supply of the Oxford vaccine throughout April and this will help us make back that shortfall to ensure we remain on track to get everybody vaccinated.”
■■How effective is it? Studies have found that the efficacy against the disease is 94.1% and efficacy against severe Covid-19 is 100%.
The results are based on more than 30,000 people in the UK who took part in the trial, from a wide range of ages and ethnic backgrounds.
The analysis was based on 196 cases, of which 185 cases of Covid-19 were observed in the placebo group versus 11 cases observed in the active vaccine group.
Moderna also released data relating to severe cases. All 30 severe cases occurred in the placebo group and none in the group which had received the vaccine, known as mRNA-1273.
■■How many doses of Moderna does the UK have?
The UK Government has bought 17 million doses – enough to vaccinate about 8.5 million people.
■■How does the vaccine work? The Moderna jab is a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine and works similarly to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Conventional vaccines are produced using weakened forms of the virus, but mRNAs use only the virus’s genetic code.
An mRNA vaccine is injected into the body, where it enters cells and tells them to create antigens. These antigens are recognised by the immune system and prepare it to fight coronavirus. No actual virus is needed to create an mRNA vaccine.
This means the rate at which the vaccine can be produced is accelerated.
■■Is the vaccine safe? Moderna said the vaccine was generally well tolerated, with no serious safety concerns identified.
Severe events after the first dose included injection-site pain, and after the second dose included fatigue, myalgia (muscle pain), arthralgia (joint pain), headache, other pain and redness at the injection site. But these were generally short-lived.
■■Is the Moderna vaccine effective against variants?
In late January, the company behind the vaccine said it was effective against both the strain first detected in the south east of England and the mutation which first emerged in South Africa.
Moderna said laboratory tests found no significant impact on antibodies against the UK variant relative to prior variants.
While there was a six-fold reduction in neutralising antibodies produced against the South African variant, the levels remained above those that are expected to be protective, Moderna said.
■■How is it stored?
Unlike the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, which can be stored at regular fridge temperature, Moderna has to be stored at -20°C.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has to be stored at -70°C.