US okays Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as pandemic surge worsens

US regulators approved a second Covid19 vaccine in a single weeks time greenlighting a shot developed by Moderna Inc and the National Institutes of Health for emergency use for Americans 18 years and olderThe Moderna approval comes exactly a week after the US Food and Drug Administration okayed a shot from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech Moderna expects to have 85100 million shots available in the US in the first three months of 2021 Vaccinations are set to begin MondayThe US government has ordered at least 200 million Moderna doses at a time when the country is getting hammered by the pandemic winter surge Deaths in the US are at record highs crossing 3000 per day at a steady clipThe virus which originated in China a year ago has killed more than 312000 Americans in 11 months New cases in the US are running at over 216000 per day on average The PfizerBioNTech vaccine is now being administered to millions of healthcare workers and in nursing homes which have borne the maximum burden of the US outbreakFor Moderna the US FDA approval is a world first For Pfizer the US approval came after Britain and Canada authorised nationwide use Ongoing studies of the Moderna twoshot vaccine show more than 94 per cent effectiveness and strong protection among older adultsAmerica counts more than 53 million people in the category of senior citizens and 40 per cent of deaths have been in nursing homes According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention more than 100 million Americans have underlying medical conditions that put them at higher risk for severe Covidrelated illnessUS Vice President Mike Pence Second Lady Karen Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams all received the PfizerBioNTech vaccination on live TV Friday in a bid to instill confidence among AmericansPfizer and Modernas dash to the finish line have broken all vaccine development speed records and on a new mRNA technology platform The coronavirus itself isnt there inside the mRNA vaccine Instead it is embedded with a piece of genetic code that trains our bodies to recognize imminent enemy action from the spike protein on the surface of the virus When the mRNA enters our cells it begins to spew copies of the coronavirus spike protein That prompts the immune system to churn out antibodies against the virusKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever