In a statement, Moderna reveals that the final results of the Covid-19 vaccine tests prove a 94.1 percent effectiveness, with efficiency reaching 100 percent when it comes to serious cases.
The tests in question included 196 participants with confirmed cases of Covid-19, including 30 severe cases.
The pharmaceutical company adds that the “effectiveness of the vaccine was consistent with regard to age, race, ethnicity and gender”.
The 196 cases included older adults (over 65 years old) and “42 participants who identified themselves as being from different communities”.
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It adds that the vaccine “remains generally well tolerated, with no record of cases with serious effects identified to date “.
Emergency authorization
With these results, Moderna will still apply today for emergency authorization to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA. The American pharmaceutical company expects the results of these tests to be considered at the meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC), which takes place on December 17.
Likewise, an emergency authorization will still be requested today from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). In the coming days, Moderna intends to proceed with the registration procedure with the World Health Organization (WHO).
Despite rapid advances, this vaccine is expected to reach the North American market first. Moderna received $ 2.48 billion from federal funds from the United States as part of the Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Spped.
This pharmaceutical company already has contracts signed in several parts of the world for the supply of the vaccine, but the United States alone is expected to have 20 million doses available by the end of 2020.
In August, the United States purchased a total of 100 million doses, with an option to purchase an additional 500 million. Moderna guarantees that it will manufacture between 500 million and 1 billion doses globally during the next year.
This is the third vaccine to pass the last testing phase after the results revealed by Pfizer and AstaZeneca / Oxford University. It is known for now that the Pfizer vaccine needs very low temperatures to be stored (in the range of -70 to -80ºC), while the Moderna vaccine tolerates less demanding temperatures, but has a very high cost, limiting its universality.
The British vaccine at the University of Oxford is less effective – 70 percent – but it is more affordable in terms of price and does not require such low temperatures.
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