The Moderna vaccine produces twice as many antibodies as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to new research.
According to new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, antibody levels after the second dose of the two most popular vaccines in the United States were higher in people who received the Modern shot.
In the United States, more than 94 million people have had the two Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines compared to the 65 million who have received the two vaccines against Moderna, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The researchers said the difference could simply be that the second Modern vaccine is given, on average, a week later than the Pfizer vaccine.
Moderna’s second vaccine is usually given four weeks after the first vaccine, while the second Pfizer vaccine is given three weeks after the first vaccine.
The study compared the antibody levels of about 1,600 Belgian health workers, of whom 688 were vaccinated with Moderna and 959 had Pfizer-BioNTech.
The results showed that the Moderna vaccine created twice as many antibodies as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
But scientists still don’t know if having more antibodies means someone is less likely to contract or spread the virus.
“I would like to urge caution when concluding that because Moderna showed a slightly higher average peak, its effectiveness will decrease more slowly,” Emory University biostatistician David Benkeser told Ben Bloomberg.
“This conclusion requires a number of assumptions that have not yet been evaluated.”
Studies have shown that even relatively low levels of antibodies are protective.