Moderna says that it COVID-19 vaccine continues to show 'strong efficacy'

Moderna Inc. said late Tuesday that its COVID-19 vaccine continued to show "strong efficacy," including greater than 90% efficacy against cases of COVID-19 and greater than 95% against severe cases of COVID-19 in a median six-month follow-up. New preclinical data also showed variant-specific booster vaccine candidates working, the company said. "We are looking forward to having the clinical data from our variant-specific booster candidates" as well as clinical data from a study of the vaccine in teens, Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel said in a statement. "The new preclinical data on our variant-specific vaccine candidates give us confidence that we can proactively address emerging variants." Moderna said it has delivered about 132 million doses of its vaccine globally. Also Tuesday, Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Albert Bourla tweeted that his company was "ramping up" vaccine production and would be able to deliver more doses to the U.S., and ahead of time. U.S. regulators earlier Tuesday called for a temporary halt in using the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after six people out of the nearly 7 million who received the J&J shot were diagnosed with severe blood clots.

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