Epigraph:
Every human life is precious and sacred and saving one is like saving the whole of humanity. (Al Quran 5:32/33)
Moderna Vaccine Found Highly Effective at Preventing Covid
Source: Bloomberg
- Vaccine has 94.5% efficacy in an analysis of late-stage trial
- Interim results suggest vaccine may also block severe cases
Moderna Inc. said its Covid-19 vaccine was 94.5% effective in a preliminary analysis of a large late-stage clinical trial, another sign that a fast-paced hunt by scientists and pharmaceutical companies is paying off with potent new tools that could help control a worsening pandemic.
The highly positive readout comes just a week after a similar shot developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE was found to be more than 90% effective in an interim analysis. Both shots rely on a technology called messenger RNA that has never been used to build an approved vaccine. Soon, millions of people around the world could be spared from illness by the breakthroughs.
A preliminary analysis of data from more than 30,000 volunteers showed Moderna’s vaccine prevented virtually all symptomatic cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the company said in a statement on Monday.
Moderna shares rose more than 9% in pre-market U.S. trading, while in Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was up 1.5%.
Categories: Health, Health & Fitness, Quran, Vaccine
Moderna announced this morning that its coronavirus vaccine is 94.5% effective against the virus, making it the second vaccine in the United States to have a stunningly high success rate.
Last week, Pfizer announced that early data show its vaccine is more than 90% effective against the disease.
While the two vaccines appear to have very similar safety and efficacy profiles, Moderna’s vaccine has a significant practical advantage over Pfizer’s.
Pfizer’s vaccine has to be kept at minus 75 degrees Celsius — or about minus 103 degrees Fahrenheit. No other vaccine in the US needs to be kept that cold, and doctors’ offices and pharmacies do not have freezers that go that low.
Moderna’s vaccine can be kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius, which is about minus 68 agrees Fahrenheit. Other vaccines, such as the one against chickenpox, need to be kept at that temperature.
That means Moderna’s vaccine can be kept in “a readily available freezer that is available in most doctors’ offices and pharmacies,” said Dr. Tal Zacks, Moderna’s chief medical officer. “We leverage infrastructure that already exists for other marketed vaccines.”
Another advantage of Moderna’s vaccine is that it can be kept for 30 days in the refrigerator, the company announced Monday. Pfizer’s vaccine can last only five days in the refrigerator.
https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-11-16-20-intl/h_3c91c6f3b13c0b6d96bd126d9cda9018