Moderna Inc. announces successful study for COVID-19 vaccine

Moderna Inc. released the latest data from its late-stage trial for its experimental coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, mRNA-1273, proving to be 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19 infection. This exciting news makes Moderna Inc. the second U.S. drugmaker to report exceeding successful test results.

The COVID-19 vaccine created by Pfizer Inc. displayed success with over 90% effective treatment rate. The U.S. could have two vaccines authorized for emergency use by December with an estimated 60 million doses to be available by this year pending a regulatory review and more safety data.

One of the most exciting things about the Moderna vaccine is that unlike the Pfizer one which has to be kept at -75°C – this one stays stable for a month when kept at 2-8°C. Makes a huge difference when getting the vaccine out to hard to reach communitieshttps://t.co/RgpRnTYv0D

— Charlie Haynes (@charliehtweets) November 16, 2020

Both vaccines utilizing newly developed technology, messenger RNA (mRNA), that transforms the body to attract the cells to create virus proteins that the immune system can deem as a threat and attack the virus. The Moderna vaccine is delivered to patients in shots and the medicine can be stored at a normal fridge temperature that will help make the medicine more widely available for more people.

The late-stage trial conducted by Moderna involved 95 infections among trial participants that randomly received the placebo or vaccine. Only five of the volunteers of the study who received the mRNA-1273 vaccine were infected.

(Photo: Louis Reed)

Patients of the mRNA-1273 trial were given two shots 28 days and Moderna expects to have enough safety data required to file for authorized emergency use in the upcoming weeks. Moderna is also apart of Operation Warp Speed that was an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to expedite testing and manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines in the fastest manner possible.

The President of Moderna Stephen Hoge claimed in a recent interview following the release of the data results that the pharmaceutical company would be ready to distribute immediately following authorized approval for release. Moderna Inc. expects they should be able to produce 20 million doses for the United States for 2020 once they get FDA authorization.