from Hacker News

FDA grants authorization to Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine

by wh-uws on 12/19/20, 1:17 AM with 190 comments

• by dang on 12/19/20, 4:39 AM

  We changed the URL from https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-d..., which is a corporate press release [1], to the most substantive non-paywalled article I could easily google.

  [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...

• by FreakyT on 12/19/20, 2:37 AM

  Glad to hear it!

  One key advantage of the Moderna one versus the similar Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is that it doesn't require deep freeze storage, only regular freezing temperatures. (-90º C for Pfizer/BioNTech vs -20º C for Moderna)

• by avocad on 12/19/20, 7:32 AM

  Does anyone know how they manage to produce complex microstructures like that, RNA inside a lipid capsule, on such a large scale?

  Does these vaccines need an adjuvant to work, or is the change to the affected cells large enough to trigger an immune reaction?

• by bsaul on 12/19/20, 10:04 AM

  i'm surprised absolutely noone here talks about the fact that we have absolutely no idea what the long term consequences of this new tech are.

  We've all seen people advocating new wonderful technological solutions that fail because of unknown unknowns, in every field. That's just the rules of the R&D game.

  In that case we're seriously thinking about injecting a new kind of drug to the whole world population based on a couple of short term trials, for a desease that is only lethal for far less than 1 percent of the population ( and in general, only the most fragile 1 percent).

  I'm just like everyone and i find this new arn cell transcription machinery hacking absolutely insanely great. And i also think it looks safe from what the expert are explaining.

  But is it safe enough to have it taken by everyone in the world ??

• by finolex1 on 12/19/20, 4:41 AM

  Anyone knows why they insist on both doses given the limited supply of the vaccine and the marginal increase in effectiveness with the second dose? I would imagine every single day counts.

  https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Rvzdi8RS9Bda5aLt2/covid-12-1...

• by reader_1000 on 12/19/20, 9:04 AM

  Are mRNA vaccines safer than traditional ones? In the long run, which one will have less side effects? As far as I know, Both US and Europe are only going with mRNA vaccines for COVID. Is it intentional or just because there is no traditional vaccine that completed Phase III trials?

• by dharma1 on 12/19/20, 12:53 PM

  Is CureVac still in the race? What other mRNA companies are there that are doing interesting work in the space (beyond COVID)?

• by mchusma on 12/19/20, 1:58 AM

  If they stopped banning Astrazeneca too, and stopped vaccinating people who already had COVID, we could be done within 60 days. Astrazeneca is well above the FDAs original safety and efficacy guidance and something I'd be glad to take and give my family.

• by opendomain on 12/19/20, 4:28 AM

  I am concerned that the Pfizer vaccine was put on hold [1]. I am also concerned that Moderna has never produced ANY drug beyond the third stage before. [2]

  How could we research if the approval was politically motivated? How can I know if this is actually safe?

  (1) https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/12/white-house-delays-p...

  (2) https://www.wsj.com/articles/modernas-covid-19-vaccine-is-cl...

• by roody15 on 12/19/20, 2:39 AM

  Hmm super expensive hard to transport Pfizer vaccine ... first to be approved.

  Next Moderna ... also super expensive second to be approved.

  After six months to a year ... and after making huge profits....

  Then the AstraZeneca/Russian vaccine variants will be “found” to be also effective.

  We must first wait and let Pfizer make a few billion !!!