SRINAGAR: Within days after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for Covid-19, a major American biotechnology firm Moderna said its vaccine candidate is almost 95 per cent effective.
The early data of the experimental vaccine mRNA-1273’s clinical trials that the firm released suggested the vaccine was tried on more than 30,000 participants. Interestingly both the vaccines have used synthetic versions of “messenger RNA” to hack into human cells, and effectively turn them into vaccine-making factories.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel was quoted saying: “This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease,” said. The company is seeking emergency approvals and is readying to supply 20 million shots to the US before the New Year. The USA has lost nearly 2.5 lakh people as the infection has made it the Covid-19 capital. The company was given the US $2 billion by Washington to speed up the vaccine research.
With 13 lakh deaths across the world, the overall infections are touching 5.5 crore people.
If approved, the vaccine is expected to be administered in two doses, 28 days apart.
The earlier vaccine that Pfizer-BioNTech jointly developed has said that it is 90 per cent effective. It also requires super-cooling to minus 90 degrees F which will be an infrastructural nightmare for the most developed countries across the world.
There is a literal race between the biotech companies to make the best of the vaccine. World Health Organization has said that more than 150 Covid-19 vaccines are presently in development, with around 44 candidates in clinical trials and 11 undergoing late-stage testing. Paris based Sanofi that expects to make the vaccine public early summer says it will be like a normal flu vaccine that does not require super-cooling.
