Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'As Good As It Gets': Moderna Vaccine Nearly 95% Effective
The Moderna vaccine is 94.5% effective against coronavirus, according to early data released Monday by the company, making it the second vaccine in the United States to have a stunningly high success rate. "These are obviously very exciting results," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor. "It's just as good as it gets -- 94.5% is truly outstanding." Moderna heard its results on a call Sunday afternoon with members of the Data Safety and Monitoring Board, an independent panel analyzing Moderna's clinical trial data. (Cohen, 11/16)
A second COVID-19 vaccine now also appears highly effective in preventing illness following exposure to the virus that causes the disease. The biotech company Moderna, Inc., said Monday that its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing disease, according to an analysis of its clinical trial. The news comes a week after Pfizer and BioNTech said their vaccine was more than 90% effective. (Palca, 11/16)
Moderna’s vaccine, co-developed with Fauci’s institute, is being tested in 30,000 people. Half received two doses of the vaccine, and half received a placebo. To test how well the vaccine works, physicians closely monitored cases of covid-19 to see whether they predominantly occurred in people who received the placebo group. Of the 95 cases of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, 90 were in the group that received the placebo. There were 11 severe cases reported — all in people who received the placebo. With cases of covid-19 confined almost exclusively to trial participants receiving a placebo, that sends a strong signal that the vaccine is effective at thwarting the virus. (Johnson, 11/16)
The vaccine also showed signs of being safe, though researchers and regulators must wait for more-complete safety data from the study, expected later in November. Moderna said it plans to ask federal health authorities by early December to clear the vaccine. Federal officials said Friday that doses could become available that month. That could make Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine one of the first to go into distribution in the U.S., where reported coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are surging. (Loftus, 11/16)
Researchers said the results were better than they had dared to imagine. But the vaccine will not be widely available for months, probably not until spring. ... The Food and Drug Administration has said that coronavirus vaccines should be at least 50 percent effective to be approved. (Grady, 11/16)
