Moderna claims that its Covid vaccine is 94.5 percent effective.
The protocol files of the biotech company Moderna for COVID-19 vaccinations are kept at America’s research centers in Hollywood, Florida on August 13, 2020.
U.S. biotech company Moderna announced Monday in a press release that its Covid-19 vaccine was 94.5% effective in reducing the risk of contracting the disease, similar to the 90% effectiveness announced last week by the Pfizer/BioNTech alliance.
This means that the risk of getting sick from Covid-19 was reduced by 94.5% between the placebo group and the vaccine group in the large clinical trial underway in the United States, according to the analysis of the very first cases. In this case, 90 participants in the placebo group caught the coronavirus, compared to 5 in the vaccinated group.
If this level of efficacy were the same in the general population, it would be one of the most effective vaccines available, comparable to the measles vaccine, 97% effective in two doses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Pfizer’s vaccine is reported to be 90 percent effective and Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine 92 percent effective, according to preliminary results released last week.
According to Moderna, about 9 to 10 percent of those vaccinated experienced side effects after the second dose, such as fatigue, aches, or redness around the injection site.
“This is a pivotal moment in the development of our Covid-19 vaccine candidate,” said Moderna’s CEO, Stéphane Bancel. “This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 trial gives us the first clinical indications that our vaccine can prevent Covid-19 disease, including the severe form”.
But these results have not yet been evaluated by independent scientists. More than 30,000 participants are taking part in the large-scale, so-called Phase 3 clinical trial, which started last July.
Moderna plans to seek marketing approval “within the next few weeks” in the United States.
The advantage of Moderna’s vaccine is that, unlike Pfizer’s, it does not need to be stored at very cold temperatures. It can be stored in a normal refrigerator for 30 days and up to six months at -20 degrees Celsius.
If approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), more than a billion doses of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines could be available in the U.S. as early as next year.
A scientific feat
It took nine years in the 1950s to develop and license the measles vaccine. In the last decade, the average development time for the 21 FDA-approved vaccines was eight years, according to a study published in the journal Jama.
In Europe, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has established a fast-track procedure that allows it to review safety and efficacy data as vaccines are released, even before a formal application for authorization is filed by the manufacturer.
Moderna on Monday became the third vaccine project to undergo this “continuous review,” following those of Oxford/AstraZeneca and then Pfizer/BioNTech in early October.
Vaccinations in the European Union could begin “in the first quarter of 2021” in an “optimistic” scenario, the head of the European agency in charge of epidemics said last week.
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