Moderna CEO cheers coronavirus vaccine safety as 'gamechanger,' with 20M doses available by end of year
'People who did got our vaccine did not get any severe disease'
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said his company's coronavirus vaccine has demonstrated a "gamechanger" safety record in ongoing studies, along with 94.5% effectiveness in preventing COVID-19.
"People who did got our vaccine did not get any severe disease, which is of course a gamechanger," Bancel told "Mornings with Maria" Monday. "We’re very excited to announce this morning that the vaccine at this first interim analysis of phase three, the real test ... has shown 94.5% efficacy."
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If it receives emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, Moderna will work with the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to get the vaccines to high-risk individuals first, Bancel said.
Twenty million doses would be available by the end of the year, he told host Maria Bartiromo.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MRNA | MODERNA INC. | 43.06 | -0.33 | -0.76% |
"You can give a prime dose, the first dose to 20 million people," Bancel said. "By the time they need their boost in January, we’ll have more vaccine made."
If further trials show that the vaccine is safe for students, young people who are vaccinated next summer could return to a "normal lifestyle" for the fall 2021 school year, he continued.
Bancel described the vaccine as "user-friendly" because it can last six months in a regular freezer and seven days in a refrigerator. The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, which was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing coronavirus in the companies' Phase 3 clinical trial, must be kept in significantly colder temperatures, making it harder to distribute.
Stephane Bancel, president and chief executive officer of Moderna Therapeutics Inc., speaks during the World Medical Innovation Forum in Boston, May 2, 2017. Photographer: Scott Eisen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar lauded Moderna's vaccine as a "stunning result of President Trump’s leadership."
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"More good news today from #OperationWarpSpeed: The Moderna/NIH vaccine candidate is now the second vaccine to show the potential for very high efficacy in Phase 3 trials," Azar wrote on Twitter. "Operation Warp Speed has provided about $2 billion in funding and operational support for development, manufacturing, and eventual potential delivery of the Moderna/NIH vaccine."
"We all anticipate it will [get emergency use authorization from the FDA]. ... the data are striking," Dr. Anthony Fauci told the TODAY Show on Monday, adding that the vaccine's efficacy "foretells an impact on this outbreak."
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