Moderna vaccine gets US panel endorsement
A government advisory panel endorsed a second Covid-19 vaccine yesterday, paving the way for the shot to be added to the US vaccination campaign.
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to follow the recommendation and quickly approve the vaccine from Moderna and the National Institutes of
Health.
The FDA advisers, in a 20-0 vote, agreed the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks for those 18 years old and up. Once emergency use authorisation is granted, Moderna will begin shipping millions of doses, earmarked for health workers and nursing home residents, to boost the largest vaccination effort in US history.
The campaign kicked off earlier this week with the first vaccine approved in the US, developed by Pfizer and Biontech.
Moderna’s vaccine showed similarly strong effectiveness, providing 94 per cent protection against Covid-19 in the company’s ongoing study of 30,000 people.
The FDA found no severe allergic reactions in Moderna’s data but flagged a slightly higher rate of less serious side effects — rash, hives, itching — among participants who got the vaccine, compared with those receiving a dummy vaccine.
An unanswered question is whether the vaccine also prevents people from symptomless infection — but Moderna found a hint that it may. Study participants had their noses swabbed prior to the second dose of either vaccine or placebo.
At that one timepoint, swabs from 14 vaccine recipients and 38 placebo recipients showed evidence of asymptomatic infection, said Moderna’s Dr Jacqueline Miller.