Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Gets Positive Review From FDA
BOSTON (CBS/AP) – Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine received a positive review from federal regulators Tuesday. The Food and Drug Administration released its preliminary analysis and confirmed the effectiveness and safety of the Cambridge company's vaccine.
The Moderna vaccine was more than 94% effective overall at preventing COVID-19 illness, and 86% effective in people 65 and older. The FDA uncovered no major safety issues and no serious allergic reactions in the Moderna study.
An advisory panel of outside experts is expected to vote to recommend the vaccine for emergency use on Thursday, with a final FDA decision coming soon thereafter.
The positive news came as hospitals ramped up vaccinations with the shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, which the FDA cleared last week.
Moderna's vaccine is the same type as Pfizer's, made with the same technology. They aren't made with the coronavirus itself, meaning there's no chance anyone could catch it from the shots. Instead, the vaccine contains a piece of genetic code that trains the immune system to recognize the spiked protein on the surface of the virus.
And in scrutinizing early results of a 30,000-person study, the FDA found it also worked just about the same.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
