The modern biotech firm COVID-19 vaccine induced a robust immune response and prevented the coronavirus from replicating in the monkeys' noses and lungs, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine said Tuesday.
The fact that the vaccine prevented the virus from replicating in the nose is considered particularly crucial to prevent its transmission to others.
The same result did not occur when the Oxford University vaccine was tested in monkeys, although that vaccine prevented the virus from entering the animals' lungs and making them sick.
In the Moderna animal study, three groups of eight rhesus macaques received either a placebo or the vaccine at two different dose levels: 10 micrograms and 100 micrograms.
All vaccinated macaques produced high levels of neutralizing antibodies that attack a portion of the SARS-CoV-2 virus used to invade cells.
In particular, monkeys receiving both dose levels produced these antibodies at higher levels than those found in humans who have recovered from COVID-19.
The authors reported that the vaccine also induced the production of a different immune cell known as T cells that may have helped increase the overall response.
A major area of concern is that developing vaccines could backfire by amplifying rather than suppressing the disease.
The so-called vaccine-associated respiratory disease improvement (VAERD) has been linked to the production of a specific type of T cell known as Th2, but these cells were not produced during the experiment, suggesting that this vaccine will not be counterproductive.
Four weeks after the monkeys received their second injection, they were exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, both through the nose and directly into the lungs through a tube.
After two days, no replicating virus was detected in the lungs of seven of the eight macaques in the low and high dose groups.
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