Moderna is requesting emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and EU regulators for its COVID-19 vaccine that has been shown to provide strong protection.
When it comes to getting live events back on the road again, an effective and safe COVID-19 vaccine is more than a game changer; it’s literally the Holy Grail and it means much more than the events industry coming back online. It also means all of our lives can resume once again and regardless of one’s political stripes, we can all agree that we all want and need a COVID-19 vaccine and the sooner the better.
While the pandemic worsens globally, Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company Moderna is requesting emergency authorization from the FDA and EU regulators for its COVID-19 vaccine as new study results verify that the vaccine offers effective protection.
Moderna is just behind Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech in seeking to begin vaccinations in the U.S. as early as this month. British regulators are also evaluating the Pfizer vaccine as well as another from AstraZeneca.
Created with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Moderna had an early hint that it was successful and its much needed results indicate that it is more than 94 per cent effective. Of 196 COVID-19 cases in its vast U.S. study, 185 trial participants received the placebo and 11 received the real thing. The only people who became severely ill — 30 participants, including one who died — had received the placebo shots, Dr. Tal Zaks, the company’s chief medical officer, said.
“To say the events industry has been waiting on pins and needles is an understatement,” said Judy Williams, longtime event industry planner. “Until now, it’s been almost impossible to make firm future plans or bookings. It’s like the industry has been trying to drive with its foot on the brake. A vaccine gives us all the opportunity to look at a future with confidence and start to plan events and our own lives. The importance of a vaccine cannot be overstated.”
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