President Donald Trump praised Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine - a Massachusetts-based biotech company - as one of the two recent "great discoveries", after the company announced on November 16 that the vaccine was 94.5% effective.
Moderna's announcement comes a week after Pfizer and BioNTech said their vaccine was also 90% effective.
wrote on Twitter on November 16, Mr. Donald Trump asked "grand historyans remember, all the wonderful discoveries that will end the epidemic from China are under my direction!"
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar praised Moderna's vaccine as part of " including President Donald Trump's vision" on the "Fox & Friends" program on the morning of November 16. "This is truly a historic day," said Minister Azar.
"There is more good news today from #OperationWarpSpeed: The candidate for the Moderna/NIH vaccine is currently the second vaccine that shows great potential for effectiveness in phase 3" - Mr. Azar wrote on Twitter, adding: This is "an excellent result under the leadership of President Trump.
President Donald Trump launched the Warp Speed rapid vaccination campaign in the spring, calling for cross-sectoral cooperation between the federal government and private drug manufacturers to produce and distribute effective COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
Minister Azar said that the Warp Speed Campaign has invested about 2 billion USD to support Moderna's vaccine production.
The US government has previously signed a deal with Moderna to purchase 100 million doses, with an option to buy the next 400 million doses.
Ivanka Trump, the daughter and senior adviser to the president, also welcomed the good news.
The Moderna/NIH vaccine is the second candidate in a week to show strong results in phase 3 trials! Congratulations to Moderna, President Trump, the #OperationWarpSpeed group and all that has made a historic breakthrough - it will help end this terrible pandemic!" - Ivanka wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Joe Biden also congratulated the scientists who made the Moderna vaccine. Mr. Joe Biden wrote on Twitter: Today's news about the second vaccine is another reason for hope. What is true for the first vaccine is still true for the second vaccine: We still have many more months to wait. Until then, Americans need to continue to practice social distance and wear masks to control the virus.
Moderna's vaccine is expected to cost around $32-37 per dose. In its third quarter income report, Moderna said it had received more than $1.1 billion in vaccine deposits from governments around the world.
