Moderna, one of the three companies authorized to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Americans on an emergency basis, announced Tuesday that it has begun applying for a full license from the Food and Drug Administration.
In December, the FDA authorized the use of Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines on an emergency basis, enabling them to skip providing long-term data to get their vaccines out to the public faster. Now both companies, whose vaccines have been used to inoculate a total of 168 million Americans with at least one shot, have collected that data and begun providing it to the regulatory agency. Last month, Pfizer/BioNTech applied for full approval for anyone over 16 years of age.
Both vaccines have been shown to be very safe and more than 90% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19, and they're expected to have no problem receiving a full Biologics License from the FDA. The process, however, could take weeks to a few months.
Both groups have released data showing their vaccines are also safe and effective in adolescents 12 and up, though they do not yet have long-term data in this age group. Some Americans have said they would prefer to wait until vaccines are fully approved before getting vaccinated.
Reported death numbers are typically lower on weekends, and this past one was extended by Monday's Spring Bank Holiday, raising some questions about Tuesday's tally. In addition, the official count only considers fatalities within 28 days of testing positive for the virus.
Still, going even one day without any reported deaths reflects the impact of the UK's vaccination campaign, the most successful effort so far in Europe.
"The vaccines are clearly working, protecting you, those around you and your loved ones,'' Health Secretary Matt Hancock said. "But despite this undoubtedly good news, we know we haven't beaten this virus yet.''
Source Code : https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/06/01/covid-vaccine-variants-president-joe-biden-india-world-health-organization/5286275001/
