Delta variant is so contagious it ‘raises the bar’ for Covid vaccines, Moderna president says

The fast-spreading delta variant is so contagious, it’s exposed weaknesses in vaccine protection and changed the outlook for ending the pandemic, Moderna President Stephen Hoge said late Wednesday.

Delta is “just so good at infecting people and replicating that it raises the bar on how good vaccines have to be,” he said in a phone interview. “It’s actually shown some of the weaknesses that [vaccines] have earlier than you might expect.”

Moderna on Wednesday shared a new analysis from its phase three study that showed the incidence of breakthrough Covid cases, which occur in fully vaccinated people, was less frequent in a group of trial participants who were recently inoculated, suggesting the Covid vaccine’s protection wanes over time. ...