Moderna To Get EUA by Friday
According to the latest reports from this week, American Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Moderna could be getting the Emergency Use Authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which would allow the drug company to distribute their vaccine to be administered to American citizens. Reports suggest that Moderna will be able to get the EUA by tomorrow, i.e.: Friday, December 18th, 2020, but that as early as today on Thursday could also be a possibility if the FDA moves the process along faster.
Additionally, not only will Moderna get an EUA by the end of this week and become the second vaccine to be made available to American citizens, there is a likelihood that the FDA could allow the Moderna vaccine to be the first to acquire approval and eventually be considered safer than the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine. While Moderna would be getting the EUA after Pfizer and BioNTech, due to a possible approval from the FDA, it would be possible to administer the Moderna vaccine to a higher number of people.
The latest review reports by the FDA confirm that the Moderna vaccine is “highly protective” against the coronavirus disease. While the common side effects include fever, headache and fatigue, they were found to be unpleasant but not dangerous. Following the FDA report, the FDA scientists, Moderna and the public will then face a panel of an independent advisory of experts today on Thursday, December 17th. Once the panel votes in favour of Moderna’s vaccine receiving an EUA, the distribution of 6 Million COVID-19 vaccine doses can begin in the coming week.
This news comes at a time of great importance as the North American country sets a record for the highest number of confirmed COVID cases as well as a non-stop death toll that reached 300,000 lost lives this Monday, December 14th.
A Harvard University professor of Public Health, Barry R. Bloom found the Moderna and Pfizer results to be “extraordinarily comparable”, commenting: “The good news is they both did everything they were supposed to do,” in reference to the two vaccines. However, since the Moderna vaccine does not require extremely low storage temperatures, he did also say: “Moderna is the one that I would take out to rural areas and community health centers and private doctors’ offices” where storage facilities would not be as highly equipped for Pfizer’s requirements.
The US government acquired 200 million doses of vaccines from the two companies for Quarter 1 of 2021. These are to be administered to the citizens free of charge.
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Credit: Alex Hogan/STAT/Boston Globe
