US President Donald Trump on Monday, 16 November, took to Twitter to boast about the Moderna vaccine candidate, which announced that early data from its studies had shown that the vaccine was 94.5 percent effective.
Calling the development of vaccines against COVID-19 “great discoveries”, Trump said the “great historians” should remember that it happened on his watch.
Moderna released an interim analysis on Monday, which said that based on a study of 95 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infections, the vaccine candidate had been found to have an efficacy of 94.5 percent.
Moderna’s announcement comes on the heels of Pfizer announcing that its COVID-19 vaccine under development had a 90 percent efficacy.
At the time of Pfizer’s announcement on 9 November, Trump had alleged that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Democrats withheld the announcement on the COVID-19 vaccine prior to the elections to prevent him a “vaccine win”.
Trump also alleged that Pfizer did not have the courage to announce the results on the effectiveness of the vaccine before the presidential elections.
Joe Biden Reminds Americans to Remain Cautious
However, on the same day, US President-elect Joe Biden too lauded the announcement, but reminded the American people that the rollout was still months away and that wearing a mask and social distancing remained vital amid the pandemic.
“Today's news of a second vaccine is further reason to feel hopeful. What was true with the first vaccine remains true with the second: we are still months away,” Biden wrote on Twitter.
At the time of the announcement by Pfizer too, Biden had reminded Americans that widespread distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine is still months away, and reiterated the importance of masks in containing the disease, declaring that “a mask is not a political statement”.
The United States is one the worst-hit nation in terms of overall coronavirus cases and related deaths. With over 11 million infections, the US is the worst-affected country in terms of the number of cases. It has also recorded the highest number of fatalities.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)