In today’s New England Journal of Medicine, researchers describe the phase 3 trial results of the newly approved modified vaccinia Ankara vaccine (MVA) and said the vaccine is safe and likely effective against smallpox, which is caused by the variola virus.
440 participants were randomized to receive two doses of MVA followed by one dose of the established replicating-vaccinia vaccine ACAM2000 (the MVA group) or to receive one dose of ACAM2000 (the ACAM2000-only group). Immune responses and attenuation of the major cutaneous reaction suggest that this MVA vaccine protected against variola infection.
Read more at CIDRAP and The New England Journal of Medicine.