KATHMANDU: US-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna said on Monday that its vaccine is apparently effective in neutralising the UK and South Africa variants of COVID-19.

The company took to twitter publicising that the synthesised vaccine appears to effective against the newer variants of the COVID-19 causing pathogens.

It has been learnt that Moderna is the first vaccine maker to announce a trial for a booster against the new variants, after having its initial jab authorised across the world including in the US, the EU and the UK.

In a recent report published by the Financial Times, the company has, however, warned that the neutralising antibody response to 501. V2, which is the UK-variant of COVID-19, was sixfold lower than to the original variant, raising concerns that immunity to it may wane significantly, specially among the elderly people.