Days after the approval of the vaccine of Pfizer-BioNTech, the American biotechnology company which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Moderna is now poised to win authorization for its version of the coronavirus vaccine. Said vaccine is to be given to adults first as the testing on teenagers and children had only begun.
According to Reuters, the data released on Tuesday by the US Food and Drug Administration confirmed that the vaccine by Moderna appeared highly effective based on a study of more than 30,000 volunteers.
Compared to the vaccine of Pfizer-BioNTech, for Moderna, it will only be given to adults as the company began its testing on teenagers however, they were not able to gather enough information to include in its authorization request to the US FDA, the USA Today reported.
Moreover, an independent advisory committee to the FDA will review the data in an all-day meeting on Thursday and if the committee coming from the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory declares that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its risks, then the vaccine will be most likely authorized this week by the commissioner of the FDA.
In addition, an independent advisory committee to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will review the information this weekend and will vote to decide whether the vaccine will be added as an accredited vaccine to be scheduled on adults.
Then for the vaccine of the Pfizer-BioNTech, it will be delivered around the country and the earliest time would probably be Monday.
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The FDA will authorize the vaccine, however, it will be reviewed again to get full approval.
As of the moment, the companies have only met requirements for so-called emergency use authorization but do not have the longer-term data which is required to be fully approved.
Both pharmaceutical companies will likely apply for their full approval once they will be able to collect this data.
Aside from the interval of administering its second dose, which is 28 days apart for the two Moderna vaccine doses and 21 days after for the second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine, there are no major differences between the two vaccines especially in terms of its effectiveness and its safety.
Both companies rely on a technology which is called mRNA in order to make a bit of protein from the virus that causes Coronavirus, which trains the immune system to attack it.
The vaccine of Moderna which is called mRNA-1273, was submitted for authorization as it has shown 94% of overall effectiveness, with no major differences by age, gender, race, other medical problems, and the previous infection with the virus, CNBC reported.
Based on the data, the vaccine will cause temporary side effects in the majority of individuals who will be receiving the vaccine, a day or two after the initial shot, wherein above 90% of the recipients had pain around the injection site, 63% had a headache, close to 70% suffered fatigue, 45% experienced joint pain and 60% muscle pain, while 43% had chills.
The mentioned side effects will be worse after the second shot and commonly experienced by individuals under the age of 65, all passed within a few days.
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