Drugmaker releases data claiming their vaccine is more protective against delta

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — New research has emerged that suggests one COVID-19 vaccine fares better than the rest when it comes to protection against the delta variant. 

Moderna is the vaccine that seems to be holding up against the delta strain better than the other two. But that’s according to researchers at Moderna.

Health officials are carefully monitoring the U.S. for new sequences, but delta remains the variant ravaging the country. Over 183 million Americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by one of three shots, accounting for approximately 55% of the country. 

News 8 spoke with Dr. Christopher Doehring, vice president of medical affairs at Franciscan Health, who explained that Moderna may be showing better results because of the gap between doses. 

“We were certainly giving the second dose of the vaccine at any number of intervals because it was hard … for people to get back in and get that second shot,” he said — so it’s a little unclear as to whether that may be one of the big factors that’s driving this difference or if there’s something else about the component of the proteint the mRNA vaccine produces.

Doehring says it’s important to keep in mind that all three of the vaccines have maintained their effectiveness against COVID-19 infection, hospitalizations and death.

The findings released by Moderna, he adds, have not yet been vetted by the FDA.