Biden reminds vaccine 'still months away' after Moderna's news, stresses COVID-19 norms

Following the latest announcement about the potential COVID-19 vaccine with 94.5 percent efficacy, US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday, November 16 asserted that the country is still 'months away' from the COVID-19 vaccine. The potential vaccine development comes at the time when the US continues to be the worst affected country by the pandemic with over 11 million cases of COVID-19.

Taking to Twitter the US President-elect asked Americans to continue practicing social-distancing and mask-wearing to get the virus under control.

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Moderna's COVID Vaccine Reports 94.5% Efficacy

Biden's remarks came after US biotech company Moderna on Monday announced a potential COVID-19 vaccine. As announced, the vaccine has shown to be 94.5 percent efficient at guarding people against coronavirus infection, according to interim results from late-stage clinical trials.

"Once again, I congratulate the brilliant women and men who produced this breakthrough and have brought us one step closer to beating this virus. I am also thankful for the frontline workers who are still confronting the virus around the clock," Stephane Bancel, Moderna's CEO said.

The biotechnology company further has informed that it intends to submit the vaccine candidate for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) with the United States' Food & Drug Administration (FDA). The analysis released by Moderna which has reported 94.5% efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine was based on results of more than 30,000 participants in the US. The analysis report of the Moderna vaccine revealed that the "preliminary analysis suggests a broadly consistent safety and efficacy profile across all evaluated subgroups."

The biotechnological firm also plans to submit applications for authorizations to global regulatory agencies. By the end of 2020, Moderna has projected to have approximately 20 million doses of mRNA-1273 (COVID Vaccine) ready to ship in the US. The company has also informed that it remains on track to manufacture 500 million to 1 billion doses globally in 2021. The statement by Moderna followed by the announcements made by US giant Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech who last week had said their vaccine, was found to be more than 90 percent effective.

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(With ANI inputs; Image -AP)