ARCHIVED - Moderna announces that its covid vaccine is 94.5% effective
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
Last week the Pfizer / BioNTech alliance said its vaccine was 90% effective
The American biotechnology company Moderna announced on Monday in a statement that its vaccine against covid-19 is 94.5% effective in reducing the risk of contracting the disease, similar to the 90% effectiveness announced last week by the Pfizer / BioNTech alliance.
At the moment it is not known whether the vaccine just stops people from becoming severely ill, or if it stops them spreading the virus too; further research is needed over a longer period of time to be able to fully assess the potential of the vaccine.
The company says in its statement that this is a "great day" in the fight against coronavirus, that it has met the criteria established in the protocol to study its effectiveness and that in the next few days it will present the documentation for final approval. The study, known as the COVE study, recruited more than 30,000 participants in the U.S. and has been conducted, the statement says, according to criteria laid down by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the U.S. Institutes of Health, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Biomedical Institute. The results come on the heels of similar results from Pfizer, which spoke of achieving 90% efficacy, and increased confidence that vaccines can help end the pandemic.
A dozen vaccines against coronavirus are in the final stretch of clinical trials and the race to bring a vaccine to the market capable of curbing the pandemic is intense.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use the messenger RNA technique, injecting genetic instructions so that the cells of the body manufacture proteins of SARS-Cov-2; this means part of the coronavirus's genetic code is injected into the body which then starts making viral proteins, but not the whole virus, just enough to train the immune system to attack. It then trains the body to make both antibodies - and another part of the immune system called T-cells to fight the coronavirus.
Both vaccines are double dose, requiring two injections.
The principal difference between the two is the temperature at which it has to be stored. Moderna's vaccine has a clear advantage due to the way in which the vaccines are stored. The Pfizer requires very low temperatures for storage; below -70º, but Moderna has announced that its vaccine remains stable at a temperature of 2 ° to 8 ° C, the temperature of a standard home or refrigerator, for 30 days. It remains stable at -20ºC for up to six months for storage and at room temperature for up to 12 hours and will not require dilution on site or special handling, which "facilitates vaccination in a number of settings, including pharmacies and doctors' offices." This is an advance over Pfizer's vaccine, which requires a temperature of -70 degrees to transport and store so is subsequently more ccomplicated from a logistical point of view.
At the moment there is no inidcation of how long the vaccine will be valid for, although commentary over the weekend relating to the Pfizer vaccine is inclining towards these first vaccines coming onto the market giving around one year of immunity.
The company hopes to have up to one billion doses available for use around the world next year and is planning to seek approval in other countries too.
No significant safety concerns have been reported, but nothing, including paracetamol, is 100% safe.
Short lived fatigue, headache and pain were reported after the injection in some patients.
"These effects are what we would expect with a vaccine that is working and inducing a good immune response," said Prof Peter Openshaw, from Imperial College London.
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