Corona vaccine: carried out for Moderna – Gruppo USA better than BioNTech

Stand: 14:57 | Reading time: 3 minutes

D.Famous US immunologist and corona expert Anthony Fauci eagerly responded to data from the American pharmaceutical company Moderna for its corona vaccine. “These are obviously very exciting results,” Fauci said, according to CNN. Moderna announced Monday that interim results showed 94.5% effectiveness. “It doesn’t get any better: 94.5% is really excellent,” says Fauci.

He estimates that the first vaccinations in the United States could begin in December for high-risk groups, with the rest of the population most likely to do so by the end of April. “And this will go in May, June and July. It will take a few months ”. Moderna expects to be able to apply for an emergency permit in the United States in the coming weeks.

In addition, on Monday it became known that the European Medicines Agency EMA is embarking on a so-called continuous review process for the Moderna vaccine, which aims to gain relatively quick approval. According to its own information, the EU Commission is currently negotiating with the US company for the delivery of up to 160 million doses of the vaccine. A contract has not yet been concluded.

Moderna is the second major US pharmaceutical company to submit positive data from the relevant study for approval with a corona vaccine within one week. On Monday, Mainz-based biotech company BioNTech and its US partner Pfizer announced that their vaccination offered more than 90% protection against Covid-19.

Both vaccines are based on mRNA technology, which has never been used to produce an approved vaccine. A preliminary analysis of data from more than 30,000 volunteers found that Moderna’s vaccine prevented virtually all symptomatic cases of Covid-19, the company said.

Only five participants who received two doses of the vaccine fell ill, compared with 90 cases of coronavirus in participants who received a placebo. This was the result of a review by an independent data security monitoring body.

The vaccine was also found to be effective in preventing more serious Covid-19 infections. According to Moderna, there were no serious cases in the people who received the vaccine compared with 11 in the volunteers who received a placebo. Final data from the Moderna study are expected by the end of the month.

Funds from Operation Warp Speed ​​program

Moderna, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, received $ 955 million from the US program Operation Warp Speed ​​to develop its vaccine, and the United States agreed to pay up to $ 1.53 billion to purchase the vaccines. Pfizer has not received US funding to develop its vaccine, according to the company, but has signed a delivery agreement with the US worth nearly $ 2 billion.

There are some differences between Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines: for example, Pfizer product must be stored at extremely low temperatures for a few days before use, which creates logistical obstacles. Moderna said Monday that the new stability data showed that its vaccine was stable for 30 days in refrigerator temperatures, much longer than the seven days previously estimated. It can be stored in freezers for long-term storage, but does not require the special facilities required for the Pfizer vaccine.

Moderna’s data analysis revealed no material security issues. Some participants experienced severe fatigue, muscle pain, joint pain, and headache after receiving the vaccine, although side effects were generally short-lived. The two doses of Moderna’s vaccine are given four weeks apart. The two doses of Pfizer are given over three weeks.