Moderna Inc.’s experimental mRNA-1273 vaccine showed 94.5% efficacy in the final stage of testing, its creators announced Monday. After Pfizer’s vaccine, it is the second drug in the U.S. and the third in the world for protection against the coronavirus to successfully complete trials and show better-than-expected results.
“We will have a vaccine capable of stopping Covid-19!” – Moderna Inc. president Stephen Hoge told Reuters by phone.
“This is obviously a very impressive finding,” said Anthony Fauci, the U.S. surgeon general.
“The incredibly impressive news from Moderna reinforces our optimism that we will have several good vaccines to choose from in the coming months,” said Peter Openshaw, Professor of Experimental Medicine at Imperial College London.
The reported efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine is 90%. Following submission of additional safety information to regulatory authorities and official approval for emergency use, two Covid-19 vaccines will be available in the United States as early as December.
The plan is to produce 40 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine and 20 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine by the new year.
In 2021, Moderna promises to release 500 million to one billion doses, while Pfizer aims to produce 1.3 billion doses for a population of 330 million in the United States.
Both vaccines are based on a new, highly effective mRNA (messenger RNA) technology. The idea is to stimulate the human body to produce proteins similar to viral proteins and to induce an immune response.
“Sputnik V” versus Pfizer’s development: a comparison of coronavirus vaccines. The Moderna vaccine trials involved 30,000 people who received either the actual vaccine or a placebo. Afterwards, 95 people were infected with the coronavirus, of which only five were vaccinated, and all five had a mild form of the disease. Approximately one in ten patients experienced transient side effects such as muscle and joint pain, headache, and redness at the injection site.
The Moderna vaccine is administered in two doses, 28 days apart. Professor Opensho emphasized that Moderna’s vaccine has demonstrated its efficacy, including in elderly patients and those representing other risk groups. Another important advantage is that, unlike Pfizer’s vaccine, it does not require deep freezing for storage. According to Moderna representatives, their vaccine can be stored for 30 days in a regular refrigerator and up to six months at a temperature of -20°C.
The Moderna vaccine is administered in two doses 28 days apart. On Monday morning, Moderna shares rose 9.1%. The U.S. S&P 500 index was up 1.3%, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index was back at its end-February level. The company previously received $1 billion from the federal budget for its research.
China and Russia have announced that they will begin mass vaccination of their citizens with their own vaccines in the coming weeks. The Russian vaccine “Sputnik-V” from the Gamaleya Epidemiology and Microbiology Center received a license for use in the country back in August. On November 11, its creators announced that it had shown a 92% efficacy rate in mass tests.
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 55 million people have been infected and over 1.3 million have died. The United States accounts for nearly 11.4 million cases and 252 thousand deaths. In Russia and many European countries, the number of cases is also breaking records, with one country after another reintroducing quarantine measures.