Geopolitics
Governance/Geopolitics
Great discoveries made on my watch will end China Plague: Donald Trump tweets on Moderna Vaccine

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 17 Nov 2020, 06:53 am Print

Great discoveries made on my watch will end China Plague: Donald Trump tweets on Moderna Vaccine China Plague

Washington: Outgoing US President Donald Trump on Monday took credit over the discovery of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine during his tenure.

He described the COVID-19 virus as 'China Plague'.

Relationship between China and the US hit new low in recent months over numerous issues including the COVID-19.

"Another Vaccine just announced. This time by Moderna, 95% effective. For those great 'historians', please remember that these great discoveries, which will end the China Plague, all took place on my watch!" Trump tweeted.

Moderna, Inc, a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients, on Monday said  its vaccine candidate against COVID-19 has shown 94.5 percent efficiency.

This study, known as the COVE study, enrolled more than 30,000 participants in the U.S. and is being conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The primary endpoint of the Phase 3 COVE study is based on the analysis of COVID-19 cases confirmed and adjudicated starting two weeks following the second dose of vaccine.

This first interim analysis was based on 95 cases, of which 90 cases of COVID-19 were observed in the placebo group versus 5 cases observed in the mRNA-1273 group, resulting in a point estimate of vaccine efficacy of 94.5% (p <0.0001).

A secondary endpoint analyzed severe cases of COVID-19 and included 11 severe cases (as defined in the study protocol) in this first interim analysis. All 11 cases occurred in the placebo group and none in the mRNA-1273 vaccinated group.

The 95 COVID-19 cases included 15 older adults (ages 65+) and 20 participants identifying as being from diverse communities (including 12 Hispanic or LatinX, 4 Black or African Americans, 3 Asian Americans and 1 multiracial).

The interim analysis included a concurrent review of the available Phase 3 COVE study safety data by the DSMB, which did not report any significant safety concerns.