Moderna Will Ask for Emergency Clearance for Vaccine
American biotechnology company Moderna said it will request emergency clearance on Monday from US and European health officials to implement plans for distribution of its recently developed COVID-19 vaccine. The company tested their vaccine on 30,000 people in clinical trials and concluded it was 94.1% generally safe and effective, aside from some mild to moderate side effects such as headaches.
Moderna is the second American based drug company with the potential to begin distributing a vaccine in the coming months. Pfizer-BioNTech, who reached 90% efficacy in their recent trails, anticipates widespread distribution of their vaccine to the general public by spring into summer of next year.
If Moderna’s vaccine receives approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, the company expects to roll-out distribution beginning in December. A panel of independent health and science experts is planning to convene on December 17 to review the testing data and make a recommendation based upon their findings. Pfizer-BioNTech has a similar evaluation scheduled for December 10.
Ann Sullivan is a contributing staff writer covering national and world news topics. She brings dedicated experience having written international and domestic news, blogs, and web content for over 20 years. She’s also a published poet and graphic designer with degrees in Business and Graphic Communications and has been a music distributor, music industry sponsorship sales director and band manager.