Today, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee is holding a vote on whether to authorize Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine in the United States. The approval, if provided today, would make the second coronavirus vaccine available in the coming days.
After all the experts present their evidence, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee may vote to give Moderna’s vaccine emergency use authorization, the FDA will immediately consider it for final approval.
The same committee approved the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech last week and the first vaccinations were given to health workers earlier this week.
On Tuesday, FDA researchers said in a 54-page review that the Moderna vaccine is safe and effective enough for emergency use in the United States and affirmed the company’s clinical trial results that showed the vaccine is 94% effective.
Moderna said last month its two-dose mRNA-1273 vaccine was tested among participants in a 30,000-volunteer clinical trial. The FDA review said the vaccine is highly protective for adults and prevents severe cases of the coronavirus disease.
