Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

"Moderna" CEO: Coronavirus Will Exist Forever


Thu 14 Jan 2021 | 03:33 PM
Ahmed Moamar

The CEO of Moderna Stephan Bansel made a shocking statement saying that the novel Coronavirus (known also as COVID-19) will exist with humankind forever.

"We will live with this virus forever," said Bansel, whose company developed a vaccine against the deadly virus, during the "JP Morgan" health care conference.

Despite the pessimistic statement, Bansel indicated that he believes that the Coronavirus vaccine developed by his company will be effective against infection with any of the new virus variants spread in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil.

The European Medicines Agency announced, on January 6, that it had given the green light to use the American "Moderna" vaccine against the COVID-19.

The European Commission said in a statement that "the European Medicines Agency recommended granting a license to conditionally market the Moderna vaccine against COVID-19, to prevent people from being infected with the Coronavirus from the age of 18 years."

Moderna is similar to the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine, which was licensed and shipped to vaccinate the first batch of Americans earlier in December.

The most important difference between the two vaccines is that "Moderna"  can be stored in regular refrigerators and does not require an ultra-cold transport network, which makes it more accessible for small facilities and remote areas.

The Moderna vaccine needs to be stored between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius for a period of 30 days, while the Pfizer vaccine needs to be minus 60 degrees Celsius to store it for the same period.

The effectiveness of the "Moderna" vaccine against COVID-19 exceeded 94 percent, and it is obtained at least two weeks after the second dose, according to a document issued by an advisory committee to the US FDA.

Like its counterpart from "Pfizer", the "Moderna" vaccine uses technology that stimulates the body to produce proteins similar to those on the surface of the virus, so that the body begins to produce the appropriate antibodies that can confront the real virus if it enters the body.