New Covid-19 vaccine from the US company, Moderna, shows nearly 95 percent effectiveness.
The results come barely two weeks after a similar result from Pfizer, adding growing confidence that vaccines can help end the pandemic.
The two companies are reportedly used a highly innovative and experimental approach in designing their vaccines.
According to Moderna, it is a “great day” and they are now planning to apply for approval to use the vaccines in the next few weeks.
How effective it is
The trial involved 30,000 people in the US with half of them given two doses of the vaccine, four weeks apart, according to the BBC. The rest of them were given dummy injections.
The analysis was reportedly based on the first 95 people to Covid-19 symptoms.
Only five of the Covid-19 cases were in people who were administered the vaccine, 90 were in those administered the dummy treatment. According to the company, the vaccine is offering 94.5 percent protection.
According to the data, there were 11 cases of severe Covid in the trial, but none happened in people who were immunized.
“The overall effectiveness has been remarkable… it’s a great day,” Tal Zaks, the chief medical officer at Moderna, told BBC News.
As of now, it is not clear how long the immunity will last as the volunteers will have to be monitored.
There is no data that shows how the vaccine works in older people, who are most at risk of dying from Covid.
However, Mr. Zaks told the BBC their data so far suggests the vaccine “does not appear to lose its potency” with age.
At the same time, it is not yet clear whether the vaccine will just stop people from becoming severely ill, or it will stop people from spreading the virus too.
How safe is the vaccine
No significant safety concerns have been raised, but, nothing is always 100% safe.
Headache, shortlived fatigue, and pain were reported after the injection in some patients as reported by BBC.
When the vaccine will be available
Its availability depends on you are and how old you are
According to Moderna, it will apply to regulators in the US in the coming weeks. It’s expecting to have 2o million dozes available for American citizens.
Moderna hopes to have up to one billion doses available around the world by next year and is planning to seek approval in other countries too.
How it works
The company developed an “RNA” vaccine meaning part of the coronavirus genetic code is injected into the body.
This starts producing viral proteins, but not the whole virus, which is enough to train the immune system to attack.
It should train the body to produce both antibodies – and another part of the immune system known as T-cells to fight the virus.
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