Trump says Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine ‘overwhelmingly approved’ despite no FDA announcement

President Donald Trump has said that a second Covid-19 vaccine, produced by biotech firm Moderna, has been “overwhelmingly approved” in the US, adding that distribution will “start immediately.”

Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, which was shown to be 94 percent effective against the virus in human trials, has been approved for use in the US, according to a tweet by Trump on Friday.

“Moderna vaccine overwhelmingly approved. Distribution to start immediately,” the president wrote.

However, the US Food and Drug Administration has made no public announcement yet regarding its decision.

Moderna announced in late November that it would be applying for emergency approval in the US and Europe after stage-three trials concluded with positive results. 

Trial data showed the jab to be 94.1 percent effective in stopping Covid-19 infections, while no trial participants succumbed to a severe infection. 

A company statement on November 30 said: “Today’s primary analysis was based on 196 cases, of which 185 cases of COVID-19 were observed in the placebo group versus 11 cases observed in the mRNA-1273 group, resulting in a point estimate of vaccine efficacy of 94.1 percent.” 

The vaccine is yet to be approved anywhere in the world. 

The US approved Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine last Friday, with a nurse and doctor in New York being the first people to receive it on Monday.

The US has been ravaged by the coronavirus throughout 2020, recording significantly more deaths than any other nation in the world.

The second wave has been particularly deadly, with health authorities registering more than 2,000 Covid-related deaths every day for the last two weeks. 

Trump himself was hospitalized with the virus for three days in early October, just weeks before the US presidential election.

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