Fortunately, scientists have been able to develop vaccines to battle this pandemic. The Pfizer vaccine has shown a lot of promise in its ability to fight the vaccine. Pfizer manufactured the vaccine, and so many powerhouse countries have fully backed it by authorizing it for use. The United Kingdom approved it, and then shortly after, the United States of America also approved it.

However, there seems to be a new and arguably improved vaccine that the United States plans to authorize. This vaccine is the Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, which is similar to the Pfizer vaccine. On Thursday night, the FDA commissioner and Dr Peter Marks said that US Food and Drug Administration plans to authorize the vaccine to be used for emergency purposes.

How Are They Similar?

Although they are similar in many ways, there are also some differences  between the Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine. Some are:

• Temperature for storage: The Pfizer vaccine is known to be stored at freezing temperatures to maintain the quality of the vaccine. However, the Moderna vaccine does not need that. It is possible to be stored in typical freezers, and transported at not so cold temperatures. This advantage makes it able for communities, supermarkets, and other small establishments to store them for people to use.
• Authorized Use: As we all know, the Pfizer vaccine has been permitted by the FDA for use throughout the country. In contrast, the Moderna vaccine has not been authorized and distributed. This means that more people have tested the Pfizer vaccine, and thus more people trust it.
• Age Usage: Reports show that the Moderna vaccine would be available to people that are 18 and over. The Pfizer vaccine, however, is available to people 16 and over.
• Prescription: The way that Pfizer and Moderna are meant to be taken vary on duration and doses. For Pfizer, it is meant to be taken as two 30-microgram doses three weeks apart. For Moderna, it is mean to be taken as two 100-microgram doses four weeks apart.

How Effective Is Moderna?

The vaccine was in development for a while, with the trials and testing dating as far back as March. The results, fortunately, were very successful. The advisory committee to the FDA released a document stating that the vaccine was reportedly able to prevent against Covid-19 by 94.1%.

15,000 people were given the vaccine, and only 11 people actually caught the disease. Even more impressively, nine of them developed severe complications from the virus.

How Safe is Moderna?

The document released by the FDA has deemed the vaccine safe for use by people. However, the vaccine comes with side effects that some people would experience when they use it. These side effects include:

• Injection pain and body pain
• Fatigue
• Chills
• Fever
• Headache
• Swollen nymph nodes in very extreme cases.

Good News Ahead

A lot of hope has been restored to people, with the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine coming into play to aid the fight against the pandemic. The US plans to distribute the Moderna vaccine a day after the FDA fully authorizes it for use. There would be over 5illion doses distributed to 3,200 locations. This trumps the Pfizer vaccine’s reach, which was only shipped to 636 locations

Once the Moderna is shipped, it would be administered to people in dire need of medical treatment first, and then made available to the public after. It is estimated to be made available to the general public in late spring.

If this is done efficiently, and all goes well, we could finally be rid of this dreadful disease faster than we expected.