News on Covid-19 Vaccine

Lili Fieldhouse, Staff Writer

This past week a second company reported an apparent successful coronavirus vaccine. The Moderna vaccine is expected to have a 94.5% effective rate against Corona. Researchers from the company are astonished by their findings and were not expecting such a high effective rate. 

30,000 study participants took place in Moderna´s trial. 

15,000 of the participants were given a placebo, which had a shot of insulin. The trial showed that 90 of the participants contracted Covid-19, with 11 severe cases. 

The other 15,000 participants were given the vaccine. Results showed only 5 contracted the virus, with no severe cases. 

The company says their vaccine does not have any serious side effects, and only a small percentage of study participants experienced small side effects like body aches and headaches. 

Dr. Fauci, founder of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated, ¨I expect the first Covid-19 vaccinations to begin “towards the latter part of December, rather than the early part of December.

Vaccinations are set to be given to the high priority groups first since there will not be enough for everyone. These groups include the elderly, health care workers, and people with underlying health conditions. 

Moderna´s Vaccine has become the second ray of hope in the rising global pandemic cure. Both Moderna´s and Pfizer’s vaccines (the first reported vaccine) have similar results because they use mRNA, which is a new vaccine technology. When the vaccine is injected, the body’s immune system produces antibodies against the virus. If a vaccinated person is later exposed to the coronavirus, those antibodies should be ready to attack the virus.

Currently, additional vaccines are still in the works, despite the promising news we have been told. 

Cases are still rising every day and changes need to be made fast to tame this everlasting pandemic.