Because research has been happening in real-time, we had to wait months for any news on a vaccine. Now multiple trials are releasing information at once. The Pfizer vaccine is 90 percent effective. Moderna’s is 94.5 percent effective.
In their study, 15,000 people had a placebo while 15,000 had the vaccine. In the placebo group, 90 people got COVID-19 — 11 were seriously ill. Only five became infected in the vaccinated group, and none became severely sick.
Dr. Stephen Hoge, Moderna’s president, said he “grinned ear to ear” when the results came in. “I don’t think any of us really hoped that the vaccine would be 94 percent effective at preventing Covid-19 disease, that was really a stunning realization.”
Moderna’s vaccine has a significant edge over Pfizer’s: it doesn’t need to be kept as cold. Pfizer’s vaccine has to be kept at negative 75 degrees Celsius, that’s negative 103 Fahrenheit. Most pharmacies and doctors aren’t equipped to store a vaccine at that temperature. Moderna’s only need’s to be stored at negative 20 Celsius, or negative four Fahrenheit. That’s easily achievable. It also lasts in a standard freezer for much longer — 30 days vs. five. It is even okay for 12 hours at room temperature.
We need more than one vaccine to meet our demand for enough people to get a vaccine. Help has been coming from everywhere: the Moderna vaccine was funded, in part, by Dolly Parton. People are pulling together and doing their best. “I felt like this was the time for me to open my heart and my hand and try to help,” she said.
Having a second vaccine get great results is fantastic news. “Here we are, 10 months from the date when this virus hit out shores and we’ve got a second 90 percent plus effective vaccine for the American people. This is really a historic day,” Alex Azar, U.S. Health and Human Services secretary.
Vaccinations using the Moderna injection could begin in the second half of December for people at high risk. Just like the Pfizer vaccine, you need two injections for the vaccine to be effective.
“I think that everybody else will start to get vaccinated towards the end of April,” Dr. Fauci said. “And that will go into May, June, July. It will take a couple of months to do.”
The U.S. has committed to buying 100 million doses as soon as the vaccine is available. That would vaccinate 50 million people. The more types of vaccines we have, the better; each company can only manufacture so many doses. We will keep you updated as we get more concrete information on other vaccines. With so many different studies in the works, other vaccines will be coming down the pipeline!
