Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Shows 'No Specific Safety Concern', Says US Drug Regulator FDA
Moderna, before filing for the emergency use approval before the FDA, has claimed that its vaccine candidate showed an overall efficacy of 94.1 percent among the trial volunteers. The success rate is way above the 50 percent threshold kept by the drug regulator for clearing a vaccine for use.
Washington, December 15: The COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed b Moderna Inc showed "no specific safety concern", said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The top US drug regulator issued its preliminary view on the vaccine candidate before meeting to officially decide on the grant of emergency use approval.
Moderna, before filing for the emergency use approval before the FDA, has claimed that its vaccine candidate showed an overall efficacy of 94.1 percent among the trial volunteers. The success rate is way above the 50 percent threshold kept by the drug regulator for clearing a vaccine for use. First COVID-19 Vaccine Dose in Canada Administered to Healthcare Worker in Toronto.
According to experts, the FDA is likely to grant the emergency use approval to Moderna at the earliest. The regulator has already allowed the rollout of rival Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, whose first doses were administered to American citizens on Monday.
Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine candidates are based on the mRNA-based technology. The two, along with Oxford-AstraZeneca candidate, are considered among the top vaccines that can prove to be the "silver bullet" against the coronavirus pandemic, claim health experts.
Among the trio, the Pfizer-BioNTech has succeeded in the race to come out with the first credible vaccine. The candidate has received approval from the health regulators of the UK, Canada, the US, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Singapore, among other countries.
Notably, the US has ordered upto 200 million doses of the Moderna vaccine -- enough to incolculate a population of 100 million. Nearly 20 million doses of the vaccine would be shipped this month, followed by 80 million doses in first quarter of 2021, and another 100 million in the second quarter.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 15, 2020 07:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).