Drug developers Moderna Thursday filed for clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to extend the use of their COVID-19 vaccine to children aged 6 months to 5 years, it was announced.
The Moderna Laboratory has begun the so-called phase 1 trial stage of an HIV vaccine using messenger RNA technology in the United States, on 56 uninfected adults, both the biotech company and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) announced Thursday.
Despite setbacks with patients dying or suffering from undesired side effects which led to the suspension of some vaccines in various countries, the market value of pharmaceutical companies continues to rise, having amassed 152 billion US dollars in profits since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, it was reported.
AstraZeneca Plc has sold its 7.7% stake in Moderna Inc for more than a billion US dollars after the U.S. biotechnology company's shares soared on the back of its coronavirus vaccine breakthrough, The Times reported.
Drug maker Pfizer announced it expects to deliver more than 13 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine per week to the United States by the middle of March, more than doubling its shipments from early February, a top Pfizer executive said in prepared testimony ahead of a Tuesday congressional hearing.
Canada approved Moderna Inc's coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, the second country to do so, paving the way for health authorities to step up an inoculation campaign against a worsening second wave.
Moderna Inc's coronavirus vaccine on Friday became the second to receive emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, welcome news to a nation with a staggering COVID-19 death toll of over 307,000 lives lost.
US panel of experts on Thursday voted to recommend emergency approval of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine, paving the way for six million doses to start shipping as soon as this weekend.
Moderna's vaccine is safe and effective for preventing Covid-19, US regulators said, clearing the way for a second shot to quickly gain emergency authorization and add to the country's sprawling immunization effort.
The United States hopes to have immunized 100 million people against Covid-19 by the end of February, a top official said on Wednesday, which is approximately 40% of the country's adult population.