Moderna sues Pfizer, BioNTech for 'copying technology' in making Covid vaccine
World | Aug 26, 2022, 06:56 PM ISTModerna and Pfizer’s two-shot vaccines both use mRNA technology to help patients fight the coronavirus.
Moderna and Pfizer’s two-shot vaccines both use mRNA technology to help patients fight the coronavirus.
the company said its request for approval for all adults was made 'to provide flexibility' to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and medical providers to determine the 'appropriate use' of a second booster dose of the mRNA vaccine, 'including for those at higher risk of COVID-19 due to age or comorbidities.'
The action by the Food and Drug Administration means the agency has completed the same rigorous, time-consuming review of Moderna’s shot as dozens of other long-established vaccines.
In his speech at the Davos Agenda, a virtual event being held this week by the World Economic Forum, Bancel said this date was a "best case scenario", but that he believed it was possible for some countries next year, CNN reported.
The company said lab tests showed the half-dose booster shot increased by 37 times the level of so-called neutralizing antibodies able to fight omicron.
The panel recommended the unusual move of giving preference to Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and late Thursday the CDC’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, accepted the panel’s advice.
With Omicron raising concerns about Covid vaccines' efficacy, drugmakers are stress-testing existing jabs while also racing to prepare new formulas.
The move to expand comes as new COVID-19 cases in the United States have climbed steadily over the last two weeks, especially in states where colder weather is driving people indoors.
Moderna said that FDA needs more time to complete its assessment and the review may not be completed until January 2022.
FDA’s decisions mark a big step toward expanding the US booster campaign, which began with extra doses of the Pfizer vaccine last month
The vaccination requirement for foreign nationals comes as the White House has moved to impose sweeping vaccination-or-testing requirements.
Last month, Japan had suspended use of about 1.63 million doses of Moderna vaccine after contamination was found in unused vials.
After a thorough and independent scientific review of the evidence, Health Canada said that it has determined that the vaccine is safe and effective at preventing Covid in youth aged 12 to 17.
The health ministry said contamination was reported from multiple vaccination sites. Some doses might have been administered, but no adverse health effects have been reported so far, officials said.
The Food and Drug Administration ruled that transplant recipients and other similarly immune-compromised patients can get a third dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
The vaccine will be imported under the World Bank's financing, according to a press statement by World Bank, Nepal office.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, US, found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was only 42 percent effective against infection in July, while the Moderna vaccine was only 76 percent effective.
The company added that its Covid-19 vaccine does not wane away and remains durable through six months after the second dose. The result of its clinical trial, which started in late July 2020 and recruited 30,000 volunteers, showing 94.1 percent efficacy did not change much after six months, the company said in a statement.
Spikevax vaccine (previously Covid Vaccine Moderna) is already authorized for use in people aged 18 and above in the European Union.
Moderna plans to expand the size of its study in younger children to better detect rare side effects.
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