Coronavirus: Moderna has had effective Covid-19 vaccine since January

The world celebrated last month after Moderna’s long-awaited coronavirus vaccine candidate was found to be 94.5% effective in early clinical results.
But according to New York Magazine, the US pharmaceutical giant finished designing that very same vaccine back on 13 January - just two days after the genetic sequence of the virus had been made public and more than a week before the first confirmed coronavirus case in the US.
The vaccine design reportedly “took all of one weekend” to develop and “was completed before China had even acknowledged that the disease could be transmitted from human to human”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
And by the time the US reported its first Covid-related death, in February, the Moderna vaccine had “already been manufactured and shipped to the National Institutes of Health for the beginning of its Phase I clinical trial”, the mag continues.
Although the speed of the development effort means that “for the entire span of the pandemic… the US had the tools needed to prevent it”, experts agree that completing intensive trials is vital for the safe rollout of any vaccine.
But as Politico’s London Playbook Emilio Casalicchio notes, “if we had taken a punt and started handing it out (unthinkable, of course), we could be in a different world now”.
Since posting the trial results in November, Moderna has submitted its vaccine candidate for regulatory approval in the US and the EU, “making it the second Western vaccine maker on track to start distribution in December”, the Financial Times reports.
The company says the trial data has also been sent to “regulators where it is already under rolling review, including in the UK”, the paper adds.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designation
The Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across Syria
THE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weapons
The Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
-
The arrest of the Philippines' former president leaves the country's drug war in disarray
In the Spotlight Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the ICC earlier this month
-
Ukrainian election: who could replace Zelenskyy?
The Explainer Donald Trump's 'dictator' jibe raises pressure on Ukraine to the polls while the country is under martial law
-
Why Serbian protesters set off smoke bombs in parliament
THE EXPLAINER Ongoing anti-corruption protests erupted into full view this week as Serbian protesters threw the country's legislature into chaos
-
Who is the Hat Man? 'Shadow people' and sleep paralysis
In Depth 'Sleep demons' have plagued our dreams throughout the centuries, but the explanation could be medical