Investigational mRNA Flu Vaccine Superior To Standard-Dose Licensed Vaccines In Older Adults, Study Shows

HealthDay (5/7, Gotkine) reports a study found that “for adults aged 50 years or older, an investigational messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccine (mRNA-1010) is superior to standard-dose licensed vaccines for preventing influenza-like illness.” For the study, “20,350 participants received mRNA-1010 and 20,353 received the standard-dose comparator.” The researchers observed “that 2.0 and 2.8 percent of the recipients of mRNA-1010 and the standard-dose comparator, respectively, had RT-PCR-confirmed, protocol-defined influenza-like illness, corresponding to a relative vaccine efficacy of 26.6 percent and meeting the criteria for noninferiority, superiority, and higher-level superiority.” They noted that “solicited adverse reactions occurred more often with mRNA-1010 than the standard-dose comparator; they were mainly mild-to-moderate and transient. Overall, 2.2 and 1.9 percent of recipients of mRNA-1010 and the standard-dose comparator, respectively, had serious adverse events.” The study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.