Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine is 94 Percent Effective

Moderna announced today relevant results concerning its Phase 3 study of mRNA-1273, a potential COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna’s data analysis reports a 94.1 percent vaccine efficacy that is “consistent across age, race, ethnicity and gender demographics.” The company also announced that today it plans to request an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as approval from the European Medicine Association (EMA). The vaccine is reportedly fully effective in preventing severe COVID-19 cases. “This positive primary analysis confirms the ability of our vaccine to prevent COVID-19 disease with efficacy and the ability to prevent severe COVID-19 cases. We believe that our vaccine will provide a new and powerful tool that may change the course of this pandemic and help prevent severe disease, hospitalizations and death,” said Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna.

As MBN reported, Pfizer’s vaccine is expected for arrival in Mexico in December. Last Thursday, as announced by El Financiero, Hugo López-Gatell informed that Pfizer had submitted its reports to COFEPRIS and it is expected that the vaccine will be approved later in December. Pfizer’s vaccine has an efficacy rate of 95 percent, according to a previous MBN article. However, it requires storage at temperatures between -70°C and -80°C. López-Gatell mentions that the pharmaceutical has the technological resources to store and transport the vaccine and that the government of Mexico and Pfizer are already discussing how to enable these technologies in Mexico. Paola Fontanelli, Corporate Communication, Digital Experience & Social Responsibility Director at Pfizer, said the company is expecting FDA’s resolution on Dec. 10. “In Mexico, we are hoping to acquire it in December or to have it available for the first groups in January,” reported el Financiero. The first groups to receive the vaccine will be determined by the Mexican government, but they are likely to include health professionals, people with comorbidities and seniors.

Last week, MBN reported that AstraZeneca, along with Oxford University researchers, announced positive, high-level results from their clinical trials. Their vaccine used two dosing regimens, one that showed 62 percent efficacy and another that showed 90 percent efficacy. However, last week Mene Pangalos, Head of AstraZeneca’s Non-Oncology Research and Development, told Reuters these two dosing regimens resulted from an error, raising many questions on the true effectiveness of the vaccine. Bloomberg reported that the company aims to do another test to confirm the 90 percent efficacy that it got in its clinical trials after many were concerned about the large discrepancy in efficacy results.