Moderna’s
CEO has said the drugmaker’s COVID-19 mRNA
vaccine may provide protection for a “couple of years,” Reuters reported.

During an event organised
by financial services group Oddo BHF on Thursday, Stephane
Bancel said, “The nightmare scenario that was described in the
media in the spring with a vaccine only working a month or two is, I think, out
of the window.”

“The
antibody decay generated by the vaccine in humans goes down very slowly. We believe there will be protection potentially for a couple of years,” Bancel
said, Reuters reported. 

However, questions still remained about elderly patients because, just like other viruses, their immune system sinks over time, Bancel added. 

This
comes a day after the EU’s medicines watchdog authorised the use of the vaccine. 

The
US biotech company stunned the world by coming up with a vaccine in just few
weeks last year. In November, the company announced
its vaccine efficacy against COVID-19 was 94.1%
and its efficacy against severe COVID-19 was 100%. Since then, US has already
received shipments of the shots.

Bancel
also said the company was close to proving that the vaccine would also be
effective against the other variants of the coronavirus that have been reported
in Britain and South Africa.