Moderna asks FDA to expand COVID-19 vaccine authorization to adolescents
10 June 2021
Moderna announced Thursday that it has requested that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expand an emergency use authorization for its coronavirus vaccine to 12- to 17-year-olds.
Why it matters: The emergency use authorization would allow for the use of the vaccine in adolescents before Moderna receives full FDA approval, a key step in speeding up the country's race to herd immunity and reopening schools safely this fall.
- The FDA has thus far only authorized Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for use in adolescents.
- Moderna's vaccine was found to be safe and 100% effective at protecting against COVID-19 in a Phase 3 trial of more than 3,700 participants between the ages of 12 and 17.
What they're saying: "We have already filed for authorization with Health Canada and the European Medicines Agency and we will file with regulatory agencies around the world for this important younger age population. We remain committed to helping to end the COVID-19 pandemic," Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly 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.