COVID-19: Vaccine's Efficacy Near 95% / 1M Pediatric Cases

By Amy Orciari Herman

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Jaye Elizabeth Hefner, MD

Check out the latest COVID-19 news:

Vaccine's efficacy & shelf-life: Moderna's candidate vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, known as mRNA-1273, has shown 94.5% efficacy in an interim analysis from its phase 3 clinical trial, the manufacturer announced on Monday. The trial has enrolled over 30,000 U.S. participants. In the interim analysis, 5 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in participants who'd received two doses of the vaccine, versus 90 cases in those who'd received a placebo vaccine. For severe COVID-19 in particular, there were no cases after vaccination — versus 11 cases with placebo. The data monitoring board identified no safety concerns. In addition, the company reported that the vaccine remains stable at 2 to 8C (36 to 46F) for 30 days; that's the temperature of a typical home refrigerator. mRNA-1273 is not expected to be widely available until 2021, the New York Times reports.

1 million pediatric cases: As of Nov. 12, over 1 million cases of COVID-19 had been diagnosed in U.S. infants, children, and adolescents, the American Academy of Pediatrics reports. Thus far, pediatric cases account for 11.5% of all U.S. cases — and 1.2%–3.3% of COVID-19 hospitalizations. During the 2 weeks beginning on Oct. 29, the number of pediatric cases rose by 22%.