Moderna vaccine nod gives US a booster shot in virus fight
Emergency-use clearance comes a week after US approves use of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine
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A doctor getting vaccinated at a hospital in Chicago amid a massive roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech in the US last week.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
NEW YORK • Moderna's coronavirus vaccine on Friday became the second to receive emergency-use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), welcome news to a nation with a staggering Covid-19 death toll of more than 307,000 victims.
Millions of doses of the Moderna vaccine are expected to be added to the US roll-out, which began last week with healthcare workers.
Older people in long-term care facilities are next in line for the vaccines, with a US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention expert panel today set to recommend what groups follow, as industries compete to have their workers given precedence.
The FDA announced the authorisation after its panel of outside experts endorsed the use of Moderna's vaccine on Thursday.
The agency had approved a treatment from Pfizer and German partner BioNTech a week earlier.
Based on similar technology, that vaccine was given to thousands of US healthcare workers last week in a massive nationwide roll-out.
"With the availability of two vaccines now for the prevention of Covid-19, the FDA has taken another crucial step in the fight against this global pandemic that is causing vast numbers of hospitalisations and deaths in the United States each day," FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn said.
Moderna's shot is expected to be used in harder-to-reach locations, such as rural hospitals.
The vaccine needs to be stored and shipped frozen but it does not require the ultra-cold temperatures of the Pfizer-BioNTech treatment.
The speed of vaccine development - less than a year from when the first case of the new coronavirus was found in the US - is a stunning scientific success, although there is some hesitancy among the public.
"It is my hope that all Americans will protect themselves by getting vaccinated when the vaccine becomes available to them," top US infectious disease scientist Anthony Fauci said in a statement.
"That is how our country will begin to heal and move forward."
Moderna said it intends to apply for a full American licence next year.
The FDA decision marks the first regulatory authorisation in the world for Moderna's vaccine and validation of its messenger RNA technology, shown to be nearly 95 per cent effective and with no serious safety concerns.
The vaccine, developed in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, had relatively minor side effects, including pain around the injection site and swelling.
The biotech company has teamed up with the US government to prepare for the distribution of 5.9 million shots as early as this weekend.
Between the two vaccines, the US is expecting 40 million doses before the end of the year, enough to eventually vaccinate 20 million people, as both vaccines require two shots.
"Brighter days lie ahead," responded US President-elect Joe Biden, who plans to be vaccinated tomorrow.
REUTERS
