Moderna is requesting emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and EU regulators for its COVID-19 vaccine that has been shown to be successful.
When it comes to getting travelers on the road again, an effective and safe COVID-19 vaccine is more than a game changer. It also means all of our lives can resume once again and regardless of one’s political stripes, we can all agree that we all want and need one, and the sooner the better.
On Monday, Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company Moderna is requesting emergency authorization from the FDA and EU regulators for its COVID-19 vaccine as new study results verify that it offers effective protection.
Moderna is just behind Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech in seeking to begin vaccinations in the U.S. as early as this month. British regulators are also evaluating the Pfizer vaccine as well as another from AstraZeneca.
Created with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Moderna had an early hint that its vaccine was working but final and much needed results indicate that it is more than 94 per cent effective. Of 196 COVID-19 cases in its vast U.S. study, 185 trial participants received the placebo and 11 received the real vaccine. The only people who became severely ill — 30 participants, including one who died — had received the placebo shots, Dr. Tal Zaks, the company’s chief medical officer, said.
For a look at the way the industry is celebrating the news of a vaccine, click here. For a look at how a vaccine will impact international travel, click here. How will COVID vaccines be rolled out? Click here.
