FDA staff approve Moderna vaccine and raise hopes of a second treatment available next week

Moderna's vaccine was approved by FDA staff in a report published on Tuesday

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) staff have approved Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, taking it a significant step closer to being rolled out nationwide.

Their report, published on Tuesday, found that the vaccine was 94 per cent effective, and was safe for use.

On Thursday an independent group of outside advisers will gather to review the data. If they are happy it will be authorised for emergency use, and could be rolled out by the weekend.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the top public health expert in the US, said on Tuesday that he would like to see Joe Biden and Kamala Harris be vaccinated as soon as possible.

From the first injection to being fully protected takes around six weeks, and there are five weeks until inauguration.

“For security reasons, I really feel strongly that we should get them vaccinated as soon as we possibly can,” he said on Tuesday morning, adding that he would like to see Mr Biden “fully protected as he enters into the presidency in January.”

Dr Fauci says that while Donald Trump, the incumbent US president, probably still has antibodies to the virus that will protect him for at least several months, he should get the vaccine as well to be “doubly sure.” Mr Trump spent four nights in hospital being treated for Covid-19 in early October.

Massachusetts-based Moderna’s treatment, like Pfizer’s, requires two doses; Pfizers three weeks apart, and Moderna’s four weeks apart.

Moderna’s vaccine must be kept at -25 to -15 degrees Celsius; avoiding Pfizer’s need for ultra cold, -80 to -60 degree storage.

On Monday Sandra Lindsay became the first person in the United States to be vaccinated, receiving her jab in a New York City hospital

Moderna is being considered for people aged 18 and older; Pfizer is authorised for people aged 16 and older.

The Pfizer vaccine was approved by the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee last Thursday, and the first doses were injected into patients on Monday.

Moderna’s vaccine, like Pfizer’s, uses a new technology to employ messenger RNA. It instructs human cells to make a spike protein like the one found in a coronavirus, and tricks the body into mounting an immune response.

The new technology has significantly shortened the time taken to develop a vaccine.

Unlike Pfizer, Moderna did accept US government money for research and development of their vaccine, and Moderna’s inoculations are the result of $1.3 billion in federal funds.

Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla, has long insisted that he wanted his scientists to be free from any political pressures, and said his company did not need the money.

Both Mr Bourla and Moderna’s CEO, Stephane Bancel, turned down an invitation to attend a White House vaccine summit last week, which Donald Trump used to boast about his efforts in combating the pandemic.

The United States has lost 300,000 people to Covid-19, and more than 3,000 people are currently dying every day — more than were lost in the September 11 attacks, on a daily basis. 

Moderna say they hope to have 20 million doses available for the US by the end of 2020 — enough to vaccinate 10 million people.