Small study finds Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine may work equally well in older people as it does in younger adults - USA TODAY

Moderna's coronavirus vaccine appears to create as strong an immune response in older people as it does in younger adults.

Moderna's coronavirus vaccine appears to create as strong an immune response in older people as it does in younger adults.

A small study published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine found the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine elicited an immune system response almost as strong in people over 56 as in adults between the ages of 18 and 55.

People 50 to 64 years old are four times more likely to be hospitalized and 30 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people between the ages of 18 and 29.

Having a vaccine that works well for older people could make a big difference in COVID-19 vaccine distribution

That's why we have the high dose influenza vaccine for people 65 and above," Anderson said

If a higher dosage were to be required for COVID-19, as it is for some influenza vaccines, fewer doses would be available

Another approach, so-called "ring immunization" where the at-risk person doesn't get vaccinated but everyone around them does, would require more vaccine, too. 

The findings don't show whether the experimental vaccine will give people immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but are "heartening," said Anderson.