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Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine has become the second to be approved for emergency use in the US.
The country’s Food and Drug Administration announced the authorization a day after the agency external expert panel endorsed the vaccine.
The FDA based its decision on the results of a late-stage study of 30,000 volunteers that found the vaccine to be nearly 95% effective in preventing the disease. COVID-19.
The study also said there were no serious safety concerns as a result of using the vaccine, although possible side effects include pain in the arms, fever, fatigue and muscle aches.
The director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, said: “We are not done with this, but hope is on the way, and hope comes from this trust of scientific brains that has done everything possible.
The United States is the first country to authorize the use of the Moderna vaccine; European regulators could approve it on January 6 and the UK could also approve it soon.
Moderna says it is poised to distribute 5.9 million injections in the United States starting this weekend, news that will bring some comfort in a country that has already lost more than 313,000 people to the virus.
An average of 216,000 people in the U.S. test positive for the disease every day, and hospitals are struggling to keep up with the number of patients suffering from serious complications.
The United States has already approved the use of a vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech, but the Moderna vaccine is easier to store and distribute, able to remain stable at -20 ° C, like most home or medical freezers, up to for six months.
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Dr. Collins said both vaccines had undergone unprecedented rigorous testing, but officials are still concerned that some members of the public still need to persuade them to accept the vaccine.
Like the Pfizer vaccine, Moderna’s uses a piece of genetic code that trains the immune system to recognize the virus and attack it. Both require two strokes several weeks apart.
The Moderna vaccine was found to be especially effective in older adults, who are the most vulnerable to complications from the disease.
However, like Pfizer’s version, it is unclear whether Moderna’s jab prevents asymptomatic spread.
