Singapore – The Covid-19 vaccine of US biotech firm Moderna Inc has told that their Covid-19 vaccine could be given in Singapore this month.
According to Moderna, they have submitted their vaccine for approval in the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) in Singapore. If the vaccine is approved by the authorities in Singapore, Singaporeans are likely to be vaccinated within this month.
While the Chief Executive of Moderna, Stephane Bancel informed that they are all set to deliver their Covid-19 vaccine as soon as the authorities in Singapore approves of it, he refrained from informing further details about how much doses are being sent to Singapore.
In addition to Singapore, Moderna has also submitted their vaccine for emergency approval to the United States after their Phase 3 clinical trial with 30,000 participants showed that their vaccine has proven to be 100% effective at preventing severe Covid-19 and 94% at preventing the disease more broadly.
While the Moderna vaccine is expected to be checked by the Food and Drug Administration of United States on December 17, the CEO of Moderna, Stéphane Bancel said with confidence that their vaccine will provide a new and powerful tool that may change the course of this pandemic and help prevent severe disease, hospitalizations and death in the world.
Along with Moderna, the pharmaceutical corporation, Pfizer and their German partner BioNTech also revealed three weeks ago that they have given their vaccine for emergency approval to U.S.’s Food and Drug Administration.
Their vaccine has proven to be only 95% effective and 94% effective for the volunteers who were over the age of 65, however, as the side effects of this vaccine is at a minimum as well, the White House vaccine chief, Moncef Slaoui stated that it is likely to be given approval on the second week of December.
Moderna seems to have an upper hand in the vaccine competition than Pfizer as the effectiveness rate of Moderna is higher than Pfizer and since the Moderna vaccine does not require heavy storage requirements unlike Pfizer.
According to Pfizer, their vaccine needs to be stored at minus 70 degrees, while Moderna claims that their vaccine has a longer shelf life when it is refrigerated at the ‘normal’ fridge temperatures and at room temperature as well, making it a lot easier and less costly to store the vaccine.
Nevertheless, as both of the vaccines have a considerably high effectiveness rate, they are likely to be given approval for emergency use during December.
