Moderna May Know by November Whether COVID-19 Vaccine Is Effective

THURSDAY, Sept. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Moderna says it should know by sometime in November whether its COVID-19 vaccine is effective, its CEO said Thursday.

Stephane Bancel also told CNBC that the company — the first drug firm to conduct human clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine in the United States — could have enough late-stage trial data by October to evaluate its efficacy but said it is unlikely, CBS News reported. Along with Moderna’s vaccine, there are six others in final phase 3 testing that involves large-scale human tests.

“If the infection rate in the country were to slow down in the next weeks, [the vaccine] could potentially be pushed out in a worst-case scenario in December,” Bancel told CNBC, CBS News reported.

On Wednesday, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, M.D., told Congress a vaccine would not be widely available until the second or third quarter of next year. Redfield also said a mask could be even more effective protection than a vaccine for people who do not have an immunity response from the vaccine, CBS News reported. A “face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine,” Redfield said. “Â… If I don’t get an immune response, the vaccine’s not going to protect me. This face mask will.”

CBS News Article