Moderna calls its COVID-19 vaccine "game changer" with 94.5% effectiveness

냉동보관 필요없는 모더나 백신, 예방효과 94.5%…"게임체인저"It's still early days, but news from the Covid-19 vaccine front continues to bring much-needed hope to a virus-ravaged world.Moderna Therapeutics says interim results from its vaccine candidate shows a 94-point-5-percent efficacy - a startling sequel to last week's revelation by Pfizer with a similar success rate.Perhaps the bigger bombshell is this: Moderna's vaccine can be stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for 30 days... in contrast to Pfizer's that has to be kept at negative 70 degrees Celsius.Bae Eun-ji reports.U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna reported Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine is 94-point-5 percent effective.During a clinical trial conducted on 30-thousand participants, half were given a placebo, a shot which has no effect...and the other half were given the vaccine.Over several months, 90 people who were given the placebo contracted COVID-19, with 11 developing severe symptoms.But among those who received the vaccine,... only five contracted COVID-19, and none became severely ill.Moderna also said the vaccine did not show any serious side effects. The company's CEO called the result a (quote) "game changer" in the fight against the pandemic."The first agreement that we reached with the U.S. government was for an order of 100 million doses. So, we anticipate to be able to ship, up to 20 million of those 100 million before the end of the year."The news from Moderna comes just a week after Pfizer reported an efficacy rate of more than 90 percent for its experimental vaccine.A key advantage over Pfizer's vaccine, is that Moderna's does not require ultra-cold storage, making it much easier to distribute.Moderna says the vaccine only needs standard refrigerator temperatures of two to eight degrees Celsius for 30 days,... and can be stored for up to six months at minus 20 degrees...whereas Pfizer's vaccine must be shipped and stored at minus 70 degrees.Meanwhile, more vaccines are expected to be released next year.Russia recently announced positive results of its vaccine 'Sputnik V',...and a Chinese-developed vaccine 'Sinovac' is in phase three of clinical trials.Bae Eun-ji, Arirang News.