The Race for the Covid-19 Vaccine

By: Sophia Deen

As you may have already heard, the new Covid-19 vaccinations springing up after months of trials may just bring us one step closer to beating this pandemic. Both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech have made large strides towards an effective vaccine, and they’re currently doing better than we thought. 
The Moderna vaccine has been reported as 94.5% effective according to data released- “There were 95 cases of infection among patients in the company’s 30,000-patient study. Only five of them occurred in patients who developed Covid-19 after receiving Moderna’s vaccine” STAT mentions. Moderna’s mRNA-1273 is given in 2 doses, 4 weeks apart. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has stated “I had been saying I would be satisfied with a 75 percent effective vaccine. Aspirationally, you would like to see 90, 95 percent, but I wasn’t expecting it. I thought we’d be good, but 94.5 percent is very impressive.” he mentioned in an interview. 
As well as this, Pfizer/BioNTech has produced a vaccine that is shown to be 95% effective “with no safety concerns” the company stated. “The company counted 170 cases of coronavirus infection among volunteers who took part in the trial. It said 162 infections were in people who got placebo, or plain saline shots, while 8 cases were in participants who got the actual vaccine.” CNN mentions. The vaccine requires 2 doses a few weeks apart, protection being achieved around 28 days after the first shot. Pfizer has been seeking US Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization, expecting to produce “up to 50 million vaccine doses” globally in 2020, and “up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.” 
Although this is great news, the vaccine will take some time to be distributed, studies show months of anticipation is yet to come. Clinical trials must take place to ensure the vaccine is safe for public distribution. As well as this, regulators must approve of the vaccine before it is sent out. In terms of who will be receiving the approved vaccine first; front-liners and healthcare workers are big priorities, hospital staff and such will be at the top of the list followed by older residents and the over-80’s due to research showing a higher risk factor for older individuals. 
Pfizer and BioNTech have said that they will be submitting to the FDA for an emergency use authorization “within days” for their vaccine. The companies have stated that their vaccine candidate will possibly be available for use in high-risk populations.