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FDA authorizes Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

19 December 2020
Dan Ackermann

The Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, one day after it was endorsed by a panel of independent experts.

Why it matters: The authorization of a second coronavirus vaccine, coming exactly one week after the FDA cleared Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine for emergency use, marks another milestone on the country’s path to curbing the pandemic and increases access for millions of Americans.

Between the lines: Moderna's vaccine, which the FDA confirmed is safe and has a 94.1% efficacy rate, does not need to be stored at ultracold temperatures and comes in smaller batches, making it easier to distribute to rural areas than Pfizer's vaccine.

What's next: The FDA's decision means that the distribution of roughly 6 million doses of Moderna's vaccine will begin this weekend.

  • The Centers for Disease Control has advised that frontline workers and nursing home patients be the first recipients of available vaccines. Thousands began receiving the first doses of Pfizer's vaccine last week.
  • A CDC committee will decide on Sunday which "priority group" should come next, with "essential workers" like teachers and law enforcement likely to be recommended, according to the New York Times.
  • Governors will then be responsible for determining which people within that group will receive their state's limited supply of vaccines.

The big picture: The authorization of Moderna's vaccine comes one day after a record 3,438 Americans were reported to have died from the virus. It also comes amid confusion and concern after the Trump administration informed state after state that they'll be getting 25%-40% fewer Pfizer vaccine doses next week than they'd been expecting.

What to watch: Operation Warp Speed officials said Johnson & Johnson closed recruitment for its Phase 3 trials — which have enlisted about 44,000 people — on Thursday.

  • The company is expecting results on its one-dose vaccine candidate by early January.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.