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Moderna will petition the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to authorize its coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, the pharmaceutical company said Monday. Their data shows that the vaccine is 94.1% effective against COVID-19, similar to the results it reported earlier this month.
The first injections can arrive as soon as Dec. 21 if the FDA gives its approval, The New York Times reported, citing Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel.
That would be almost exactly one year after news broke from China of a new coronavirus that had appeared in the city of Wuhan. Within a few months, the virus had spread throughout the world. Now it has infected more than 62 million people worldwide, leading to 1.4 million deaths.
Moderna is the second company to apply for emergency use authorization from the FDA. Pfizer submitted an application for its vaccine on November 20, the Times noted.
The speed of development and testing of those two companies, and several others, is unprecedented. Vaccines can take more than a decade to create. If the Pfizer and Moderna formulas are as effective as early data suggests, they could herald a new era in vaccine and therapy design.
That’s because both companies used a pioneering technology known as synthetic messenger RNA or mRNA, a molecule that tells cells how to build proteins. With that, you can trick cells into producing proteins typically found in SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes COVID-19, and then boost the immune system, without making patients sick, to provide protection. against infection.
If it gets the necessary approvals, Moderna expects to have around 20 million doses available in the US by the end of the year and said it could manufacture 500 million to 1 billion doses globally in 2021.
See also: COVID-19 vaccines are coming soon, but you could be last in line. Here’s who will get one first
Other companies working on coronavirus vaccines include AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said Earlier this month, he is hopeful about the progress made in developing vaccines to treat COVID-19. Much of his philanthropy work over the past decade with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has focused on fighting disease.
“Almost all vaccines will work and with very high levels of efficacy,” Gates told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an interview. “I am optimistic that by February it is very likely that they will all be very effective and safe.”
CNET’s Jackson Ryan contributed to this story.
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The information in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to be medical or health advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified healthcare provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health goals.
