Moderna vaccine was 94.5% effective
For the second time in a month, the world is shaken by the good news about the development of a reliable defense against COVID-19
According to preliminary data from a Moderna study, the effectiveness of the new vaccine is 94.5%. During the study of the drug, which was tested on 30,000 volunteers, only 95 were found to have the coronavirus. At the same time, 90 people were injected with a placebo, which means that only 5 people were actually infected.
These results came as a surprise. Scientists had been warning for months that any COVID-19 vaccine could be as good as the flu shot, which is about 50% effective.
Canada has already ordered more than 20 million doses of Moderna vaccine.
A week ago, Pfizer Inc., a competitor, announced that its COVID-19 vaccine was just as effective. This news has both companies working to find approval for emergency use of the drugs in the U.S.
Dr. Steven Hoge, president of Moderna, finds the similar results from the two different companies most encouraging: "This should give us hope that the vaccine can stop this pandemic and hopefully get us back to our normal lives."
Both vaccines are so-called mRNA vaccines, created using completely new technology. They are not made from the coronavirus itself; instead, the vaccine contains a fragment of genetic code that trains the immune system to produce a special protein.
However, the developed vaccines have some nuances concerning their storage — Pfizer vaccine should be stored at -75 degrees Celsius. The Moderna vaccine needs a temperature of 2-8 degrees Celsius to be stable, while storage for up to 6 months requires a temperature of -20 degrees Celsius.
The prime minister anticipates that vaccines should be available in Canada as soon as early 2021.
