After an eight-hour debate, a high powered vaccine advisory panel supported Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use approval (EUA) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), becoming the second vaccine into America's mass vaccination effort against a raging pandemic.
Moderna's vaccine is based on the same technology as Pfizer's - mRNA, where the actual virus is not planted inside these vaccines and people who get the shots can't catch the virus from it. Instead, the vaccine contains a piece of genetic code that trains the body's immune system to recognize the spike protein on the surface of the Covid-19 virus and helps mount an organic defence when the attack comes.
The FDA revealed that there were "no specific safety concerns" or allergic reactions in the Moderna trials. Although, typical reactions observed include temporary fever, fatigue and aches, especially after the second dose as the vaccine speeds up the immune system. These reactions are similar to those found in Pfizer.
About 1.5 per cent of vaccine recipients reported possible "hypersensitivity".The Moderna claimed its vaccine to be more than 94 per cent effective overall at preventing COVID-19 illness and 86 per cent effective in people 65 and older.
Around 20 million Americans are expected to be vaccinated by December end, covering healthcare workers and nursing home staff and residents, first.
According to Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the average American can expect to get a shot in the second quarter of 2021.
Assuming that the Moderna vaccine also gets regulatory approval, US officials expect they will have enough doses to vaccinate 20 million people by December end - which means they will have 40 million shots available between Pfizer/ BioNTech and Moderna.
Also Read: US FDA says extra Pfizer vaccine doses can be used
Moderna's second shot is timed four weeks after the first.
By February end, there will be enough to vaccinate 100 million Americans, according to data shared by the Trump administration's vaccine czar Moncef Slaoui. Covid-19 is blamed for the deaths of more than 300,000 Americans this year.