Bar-Ilan University awards an honorary doctorate to Tal Zaks, the top medical officer at Moderna, for his role in developing the Massachusetts-based pharma firm’s COVID-19 vaccine.
“I am moved and thankful for this great honor. I see it as a token of appreciation of all the people at Moderna who are behind this achievement. All my professional life I have strived to interweave science and medicine, and I am proud to receive this award from a university that uniquely does so,” Zaks, who Israeli, is quoted saying in a statement from Bar-Ilan.
During the “hooding” ceremony at the university, Zaks also comments on the effectiveness of vaccines against coronavirus variants.
“When we assess mutations we realize that the basis of the virus is the same. The first variant is the important one, and I believe that we have provided a comprehensive response to it. An additional dose of the vaccine may be needed in the future and we are currently examining this possibility,” he says.
Zaks adds: “Today we have a global infrastructure and confidence in technology that allows us in a short time to produce vaccines that are resistant to any variant that develops.”
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