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Vaccines

COVID-19 Vaccines: A Gift of Hope in Times of Pandemic

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

In a year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the winter holidays have brought a season of hope with the emergence of two COVID-19 vaccines. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, enabling distribution to high-risk groups. These mRNA vaccines, co-developed by NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), show 94.5 percent effectiveness in protecting people from SARS-CoV-2 infection. The distribution of millions of Moderna vaccine doses is expected to begin this week, marking a remarkable accomplishment in vaccine development history.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has shown 94.5 percent effectiveness in protecting people from SARS-CoV-2 infection in a clinical trial of 30,000 individuals.
  • The vaccine development process, which typically takes years, has been condensed to just 11 months, with researchers starting to work on the virus in January.
  • The Moderna vaccine uses a unique approach, delivering mRNA instructions for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which trains the human immune system to fend off the virus.
  • The vaccine does not alter the DNA genome, as the mRNA stays in the outer part of the cell and degrades quickly after being transcribed into protein.
  • The technology behind the vaccine has the potential to speed up the development of future vaccines, including a universal vaccine against coronaviruses and vaccines for other conditions like cancer and HIV.
  • Public surveys indicate that some people are uneasy about accepting the vaccine, but the results of the Pfizer and Moderna trials indicate high potential benefits and low risks.
  • The FDA continues to scrutinize the data to determine long-term safety and effectiveness, but the gift of vaccines comes too late for the countless Americans who have lost their lives to COVID-19.
  • Achieving herd immunity will require 75-80 percent of Americans to receive the vaccine, and in the meantime, everyone must follow the three W's: Wear a mask, Watch your distance, Wash your hands often.

Statistics:

  • 94.5 percent: The effectiveness of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in protecting people from SARS-CoV-2 infection.
  • 30,000: The number of individuals who participated in the Moderna vaccine clinical trial.
  • 11 months: The time it took to develop the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, a record-breaking accomplishment in vaccine development.
  • 313,000: The number of Americans who have died from complications of COVID-19.
  • 75-80 percent: The percentage of Americans who need to receive the vaccine to achieve herd immunity.

Sources:

  • National Institutes of Health news release.
  • U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) news release.
  • Moderna Therapeutics news release.
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) news release.
  • Pfizer/BioNTech news release.

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