The coronavirus vaccine developed by the American biotech company Moderna could protect against covid-19 for up to two years, as announced on Thursday by its CEO, Stéphane Bancel. At an event organized by the financial services group Oddo BHF, Stéphane Bancel stated that the nightmare scenario presented in the media with a vaccine that would only work for a month or two now seems to be off the table.

The executive explained that the decrease in antibodies generated by the vaccine in humans occurs "very slowly." Hence, the estimates that "there will be protection potentially for a couple of years," according to a report by Reuters. 

Bancel also announced that his company is about to demonstrate that its vaccine would also be effective against the coronavirus variants in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

The American biotechnology company received approval from the European Commission on Wednesday for the use of its vaccine. "We have authorized Moderna's vaccine, the second vaccine approved in the EU. Europe has so far secured 2 billion doses of potential vaccines, more than enough to protect us all," tweeted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Moderna's vaccine is based on a new messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, like Pfizer's BNT162b2, and has already been approved in Canada, the US, and Israel. According to clinical trials, the drug is 95% effective and does not cause serious side effects.