Clinical trial results promising, virus vaccine expected December ─Moderna

*Coronavirus may become a permanent healthcare issue that must be dealt with on a seasonal basis ─Patrick Vallance, UK’s Chief Health Adviser

Emmanuel Akosile | ConsumerConnect

As the company hopes to get positive results from a large clinical trial nearing completion November, Moderna could join Pfizer as the companies with the first available Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines.

Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Moderna, at an event sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, said the United States Government could authorise emergency use of the company’s experimental vaccine December 2020.

Bancel stated though all depends on the company’s getting positive results in November from a large clinical trial that is nearing completion.

If it takes longer to get those results, the emergency use authorisation (EUA) could slip to early 2021, said Moderna Chief.

Meanwhile, Pfizer is on record as it expects to seek EUA for its experimental vaccine before the end of November.

An EUA would allow the use of the drug pending final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

But then, will COVID-19 be a seasonal illness like the flu? Patrick Vallance, UK’s Chief Health Adviser, opined that the Coronavirus may become a permanent healthcare issue that must be dealt with on a seasonal basis, just like the flu.

That’s the assessment from

Vallance told British officials in the week that “we can’t be certain, but I think it’s unlikely we will end up with a truly sterilising vaccine, (that is) something that completely stops infection.

“And it’s likely this disease will circulate and be endemic; that’s my best assessment.”

There has only been one disease ─ smallpox ─ that scientists have been able to eradicate with the use of a vaccine.