In December, a Belgian minister tweeted the price the European Union was paying for the leading vaccines which gives some indication over price per dose. Moderna’s must be shipped at -4 degrees Fahrenheit, which is within the temperature of a regular refrigerator freezer. Pfizer vs. Moderna: How the COVID-19 Vaccines Compare By Sarina Sandoval and Hannah Poukish Sacramento PUBLISHED 4:05 PM ET Jan. 19, 2021 PUBLISHED 4:05 PM EST Jan. 19, 2021 Moderna headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Significance: Because the Moderna vaccine doesn't need to be transported and stored in as cold a temperature as the Pfizer-BioNTech product, it may be easier to distribute, especially in small communities and rural areas that may not have access to the required refrigeration, says William Moss, a physician and executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins … The vaccine was 72% protective in the United States, 66% protective in South America, and 57% protective in South Africa. Pfizer vs Moderna: What Sets Apart From Each Other Types of Vaccine. Research on the Pfizer vaccine from Israel – the country that has vaccinated the biggest proportion of its population so far – appears to back up the trial data. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have shown astonishing — and essentially equivalent — degrees of efficacy, at least in the early stages after vaccination. Moderna’s has been cleared for use in people 18 and older, though the company is now testing its vaccine in 12- to 17-year-olds. Much of the data generated in the South African arm of the J&J trial involved people who were infected with the variant first seen in South Africa, called B.1.351. We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future. The Pfizer vaccine is shipped in six-dose vials. And another study by Israel's Clalit Research Institute and Harvard University found two doses of the Pfizer vaccine reduced symptomatic Covid-19 by 94 per cent and severe disease by 92 per cent. Conservative-minded investors will fair better with Pfizer while risk-seeking investors can run the gauntlet with Moderna. This is perhaps the million dollar question – older people are at more risk from Covid but immune responses tail off as people age and vaccine efficacy wanes. Pfizer’s and Moderna’s trials both tested for any symptomatic Covid infection. The vaccine appeared to be more or less equally protective across age groups and racial and ethnic groups. Thank you very much, By Michael J. Joyner and Arturo Casadevall, Reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine, Eli Lilly’s experimental diabetes drug reduced weight and blood…, Eli Lilly’s experimental diabetes drug reduced weight and blood sugar in clinical trial, FDA scientists endorse J&J’s Covid vaccine, as new data…, FDA scientists endorse J&J’s Covid vaccine, as new data shed light on efficacy, Covid-19 could bring a new era of public health…. All of these vaccines — in fact, most if not all the Covid-19 vaccines that have reported data so far — fall into the reactogenic category. J&J employed this same approach to make an Ebola vaccine that has been authorized for use by the European Medicines Agency. The UK Vaccines Taskforce – charged with selecting and securing the most promising vaccine candidates – hedged its bets, securing 407 million doses from seven different companies. Figuring out how long the protection provided by any of these vaccines will last will take time. An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the way in which viral vectored vaccines work. And yet, they aren’t getting better results. The Pfizer jab is known as a messenger vaccine (MRNA) which uses genetic code rather than a weakened form of the virus. The J&J one-dose vaccine was shown to be 66% protective against moderate to severe Covid infections overall from 28 days after injection, though there was variability based on geographic locations. But there are plenty of places across the country that would not have needed 1,000 doses to vaccinate the people eligible for vaccination in the early stages of the rollout, when only selected groups of people were eligible to get vaccine. Single doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are more than 92 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 illness after two weeks, Canadian researchers are … Covid-19 … This story was last updated on Feb. 28. Data from Public Health England's (PHE) Siren study, published on Feb 22, also showed that those given the jab had at least a 70 per cent lower chance of becoming infected with coronavirus three weeks after vaccination, rising to 85 per cent after a second dose. In short, Pfizer and Moderna are producing fewer but more effective (and pricier) vaccines, while AstraZeneca is making a greater number of less effective (and cheaper) vaccines. The proteins made with the mRNA instructions activate the immune system, teaching it to see the spike protein as foreign and develop antibodies and other immunity weapons with which to fight it. Pfizer’s vaccine is 95% effective after the second dose; Moderna’s was effective for 94% of the trial volunteers. And it would be easy to ship and store. Of the mRNA vaccines, Pfizer’s was originally the more difficult to use. Each dose of Pfizer’s contains 30 micrograms of vaccine. The J&J shot does not, which means this vaccine can be given easily anywhere — in  doctors’ offices, pharmacies, mass vaccination sites, public health clinics — once supplies are adequate. The CDC recommends until those studies are conducted, the choice of whether to get vaccinated should rest with the person who is pregnant or lactating. The mRNA vaccines require an elaborate cold chain, the term used to describe the conditions under which vaccines must be stored during distribution and when they are in the doctors’ offices, pharmacies, or public health clinics where they’ll be administered. A third vaccine, from AstraZeneca-Oxford, has been approved for use in the U.K., but not in the U.S. … In the vernacular of vaccinology, shots that trigger a range of transient side effects in a lot of recipients are known as reactogenic. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has a 95% efficacy rate Moderna's vaccine offers 94% protection against the virus AstraZeneca has been approved for use in the U.K. with 60% effectivity The vaccine appeared to be equally effective across different ethnic and racial groups. The Pfizer vaccine now no longer needs to be kept at deep freeze conditions - between minus 60 and 80 degrees Celsius - and can be stored in a standard medical freezer at between -15C and -25C for as long as two weeks. Second-generation vaccines are currently in development, with UK and German firms GSK and Curevac collaborating on a multi-valent vaccine that can be used against several strains. Some experts believe this may happen that the Covid vaccine may have to be reformulated annually - like the flu vaccine - to combat what is known as “antigenic drift”, or the emergence of new variants. J&J is also testing what happens to antibody responses when a person who received the single dose regimen receives a small booster shot quite a bit later, Johan Van Hoof, managing director of Janssen Vaccines revealed recently. Most of the studies that looked at different age groups only compared over 60s and over 65s to the rest of the study population – there is a world of difference between a healthy 60-year-old and a 90-year-old chockablock with comorbidities. Moderna has completed animal studies the FDA demanded of manufacturers; these studies look for evidence that the vaccine might harm the pregnancy or the developing fetus. With similar effectiveness against COVID-19 from both brands (approximately 95%), the additional 70 mcg per dose seems like it may do more harm than good, at least when it comes to side effects. The UK has approved three Covid vaccines with two more set to come on stream soon – but how do they all compare? (The company collected data for both.). “The most important thing is to keep people outside hospital and prevent them getting severe disease,” he said. J&J’s vaccine is packaged in five-dose vials. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved two COVID-19 vaccines for use in this country: one from Moderna, another from Pfizer-BioNTech. Comparing vaccines head to head is tricky as none have been tested in this way. The vaccine’s efficacy appeared to be slightly lower in people 65 and older, but during a presentation to the Food and Drug Administration’s advisory committee in December, the company explained that the numbers could have been influenced by the fact there were few cases in that age group in the trial. The Moderna vaccine works in a very similar way to the jab from Pfizer/BioNTech. The emergence of new variants, against which some vaccines are less able to respond, shows that having a suite of jabs to choose from is prudent. In this article, we will cover some important differences between the vaccines, including as storage requirements, time between doses, and age requirement for vaccination. The differences between the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may matter most to the people tasked with transporting and storing them. The CDC says people should be monitored for 15 minutes after getting a Covid-19 shot, and 30 minutes if they have a history of severe allergies. The results from that 30,000-person trial aren’t expected until sometime in May. The Pfizer vaccine showed efficacy of 95% at preventing symptomatic Covid infection after two doses. As states move into vaccinating larger segments of the population, this large minimum order size become less of a disadvantage. Second doses administered within a grace period of four days earlier than the recommended date for the second dose are still considered valid per the CDC. The company said it saw no such signals. And the UK has also begun to report good news from its successful immunisation programme. The vaccine available at the place where you are being vaccinated is the one you’ll get. Yes, I would like to know if any of these vaccines does or does not have sulfites in them. The only thing better than a COVID-19 vaccine is two COVID-19 vaccines. This is injected into the body where it enters cells - … This is a more permissive stance than has been taken in some countries, which have said people who are pregnant should not be vaccinated with these vaccines. To be clear: These side effects are a sign of an immune system kicking into gear. The J&J vaccine was still being tested when the variants were making the rounds. It would trigger no side effect more significant than a sore arm. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an expert panel that helps the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set vaccination policies, advised hospitals early in the rollout that they might want to stagger vaccinations among employees in case some feel too unwell to work the day after being vaccinated. And a separate study comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated people found that the vaccine offered 92 per cent efficacy. It will take time to come up with a firm estimate of how frequently this side effect occurs. Supplies are too scarce. For Pfizer, you must wait 21 days between the initial shot and your booster. While Pfizer is a pharmaceutical behemoth, Moderna -- short for modified RNA -- is a biotech company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The J&J vaccine is, as mentioned, a single-dose vaccine. Earlier STAT published a head-to-head comparison of the vaccines developed by Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, and by Moderna, which have been in use in the country since December. Other vaccines do not yet have such strong real-world data to back up trial results. We have updated it here with information about the J&J vaccine. A 95% effective vaccine is better than a 62% to 90% effective vaccine, but 200 million doses is better than 20 million to 50 million doses. Importantly, it was 85% effective in protecting against severe disease. Using the new Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine to…, Using the new Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine to create equity and trust, ‘We’re only going to cure diseases if we understand…, ‘We’re only going to cure diseases if we understand them’: Whitehead director advocates for basic science, Listen: Peace among the pharma giants, the next phase…, Listen: Peace among the pharma giants, the next phase of the pandemic, & a little Covid-19…. For example, in the US the vaccine achieved 72 per cent efficacy but in South Africa – where a new variant is running rampant – it was just 57 per cent. But will it? And there were no hospitalizations or deaths in the vaccine arm of the trial after the 28-day period in which immunity developed. It’s not yet known if any of these vaccines prevent asymptomatic infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. But other vaccines tested on populations where the variants were circulating - J&J, Moderna and Novavax - have shown they are less effective against the South African variant. However, as data from mass administration of the vaccines begin to emerge we are getting a clearer picture. Younger adults, who have more robust immune systems, reported more side effects than older adults. Which you choose depends on your specific investment portfolio and risk tolerance. Until testing in children and younger teens is conducted, this vaccine won’t be available for use anyone under 18 years old either. Evidence showed that just 0.04 per cent of people who received two doses of this jab developed Covid. J&J’s vaccine can be stored at room temperature — not to exceed 77 degrees Fahrenheit — for 12 hours when the vial hasn’t yet been punctured. None of the vaccines has been tested in these two groups, although Pfizer recently began a Phase 2/3 trial to test the safety and efficacy of its vaccine during pregnancy. The single dose contains more antigen than the individual doses in the two-dose regimen. While both vaccines are stored at cold temperatures, Pfizer's needs a special freezer to keep the vaccine at minus 94 degrees, while Moderna's vaccine can be kept in a regular freezer at minus 4 degrees. The minimum amount of vaccine a location can order is 1,170 doses. J&J recently revealed that a single case of anaphylaxis has been reported in someone who received its vaccine. The cold-chain requirement is not the only challenging aspect of the Pfizer vaccine. Van Hoof said J&J will begin a similar trial in late March or early April. They do not signal that the vaccine is unsafe. Developed by J&J’s vaccines division, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, it was shown to be 66% protective against moderate to severe Covid infection in a multi-country study. Both Moderna and Pfizer made use of the messenger mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) which is … Going by clinical trial results alone the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna jabs are the most effective – scoring 95 per cent and 94.1 per cent respectively. Moderna has a lot more on the line, which makes it a higher risk but higher growth opportunity. However, the real-world data from the UK, is beginning to prove that doubts over the jab's effectiveness among older people are unfounded. Pfizer requires ultra-cold storage and Moderna can be stored at regular freezer temperatures. It had to be shipped and stored in ultra-cold freezers — ones that could keep the vials at -94 degrees Fahrenheit. ​Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security. A large teaching hospital might need several of those. And different countries have negotiated different prices that don’t always make sense. Covid-19 could bring a new era of public health leadership. According to Business Insider, Moderna seems to have a slight edge over Pfizer at preventing more serious cases of COVID-19. Despite the disparity in dosage, efficacy between the two vaccines is nearly identical. But as vaccination campaigns continue to ramp up around the world it it is becoming possible to get a clearer idea of not only which work better but which are more appropriate for certain populations and settings. After the second dose, Pfizer’s vaccine is 95% effective, Moderna’s 94.5% effective but there are many differences. The interval between Moderna doses is 28 days; for the Pfizer vaccine, it’s 21 days. However, one vaccine that got a slightly lower score than the trio is Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine, with a rating of 70 percent -- which is still good but shadowed by the competition’s scores. In an ideal world, a pandemic vaccine could be delivered in a single shot, so supplies could be stretched to cover a lot of people. The story of mRNA: How a once-dismissed idea became a leading technology in the Covid vaccine race, ‘A full court press’: Banking on tech backup, CDC launches nationwide VaccineFinder tool, The myth of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Covid vaccines: Why false perceptions overlook facts, and could breed resentment, ‘An unchartered situation for all of us’: From shipping containers to security concerns, a Covid-19 vaccine supply chain takes shape, In Palm Beach, Covid-19 vaccines intended for rural Black communities are instead going to wealthy white Floridians, The short-term, middle-term, and long-term future of the coronavirus, For early testing of convalescent plasma, we were ‘building the plane while we were flying it’. Pfizer vs. Moderna: A COVID-19 Vaccine Comparison December 23, 2020 | Kevin Hunt. South Africa is paying twice what European countries are paying for the AstraZeneca vaccine, for example. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are made using messenger RNA, or mRNA, a technology that delivers a bit of genetic code to cells — in effect, a recipe to make the surface protein (known as spike) on the SARS-2 virus. It’s going to involve periodic blood draws from some volunteers to see what their antibody levels look like, though a decline in antibody levels doesn’t necessarily equate to loss of protection. But the vaccine was shown to be 85% protective against severe disease, with no differences across the eight countries or three regions in the study, nor across age groups among trial participants. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines appear, on rare occasions, to trigger anaphylaxis, a severe and potentially life-threatening reaction. And there were no hospitalizations or deaths among people in the vaccine arm of a large clinical trial. J&J and Novavax have both published phase three data and should be approved soon while the GSK/Sanofi and Valneva jabs are still in development. Both seem to be quite safe and highly effective, with clinical trials finding Pfizer's vaccine 95% effective, and Moderna's 94.1% effective, at preventing symptomatic disease. One of the main differences between them is that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require two shots given several weeks apart, while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a … And the number of older adults included in trials are too small to draw firm conclusions. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are based on mRNA technology and are the easiest to tweak, with Dr Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNtech, estimating it could take just six weeks to adapt the vaccine. Which Vaccine is Better? But comparing the efficacy of those vaccines to the efficacy of Johnson & Johnson’s is challenging because of differences in the designs of the Phase 3 clinical tests — essentially the trials were testing for different outcomes. Moderna’s vaccine comes in 14-dose vials. Moderna gives much larger doses, at 100 micrograms. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, meanwhile, rely on mRNA technology, which essentially introduces a piece of genetic code that tricks the … However, many experts pointed out that this study was small and only looked at individuals aged under 65. A single dose reduced symptomatic Covid-19 by 57 per cent and severe disease by 62 per cent after three weeks. It is what’s known as a viral vectored vaccine. It’s not entirely clear how well they will work against these mutated viruses. Once the adenovirus enters cells, they use that code to make spike proteins. Moderna went with a much larger dose of vaccine, 100 micrograms. Pfizer's shot seems to be more effective for older adults, while Moderna's may be better at preventing severe cases Both of these vaccines are recommended for adults of any age. Each dose of the Moderna COVID vaccine contains 100 mcg, whereas the Pfizer COVID vaccine only contains 30 mcg. That should make the final stage of the vaccine’s journey from production plant to syringe ready to plunge into an arm somewhat easier. Pfizer started counting cases from seven days after receipt of the second dose of vaccine, while Moderna waited until day 14 to start counting cases. After the first dose is withdrawn, the vial can be stored in a fridge for six hours or at room temperature for two hours. The interval between Moderna doses is 28 days; for the Pfizer vaccine, it’s 21 days. Some people in the clinical trials have reported fever. With the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, side effects are more common after the second dose. Helen covers issues broadly related to infectious diseases, including outbreaks, preparedness, research, and vaccine development. The Moderna vaccine’s minimum order is 140 doses, a much more manageable number. Many of the people who have developed anaphylaxis have a history of severe allergies and some have had previous episodes of anaphylaxis. However, Dr Anthony Fauci, leader of the US response, pointed out that none of the trial participants who took the vaccine – either in the US, South Africa or Latin America – were hospitalised or died. We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism. A harmless adenovirus — from a large family of viruses, some of which cause common colds — has been engineered to carry the genetic code for the SARS-2 spike protein. Like with the Pfizer vaccine, patients who suffer from anaphylaxis to ingredients such as PEG or polysorbate are not advised to take Moderna… Globally, 293 Covid-19 vaccines are in various stages of development: 10 of which are in use or approved, and 70 of which are in clinical trials. If the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech was good enough to get a nod from the FDA, the vaccine from Moderna and the NIH almost certainly is as well. Other considerations should also be taken into account when comparing vaccines. This was a sensible strategy back in the summer of 2020 when the taskforce was ordering doses of untested and unproven jabs. 'Now they must respect us': a beacon of hope for Africa as Angola bans gay discrimination, Covid-19 has killed at least 17,000 frontline health workers globally, figures show, Coronavirus latest news: UK most likely place in the world for mutant coronavirus variant, says health minister, Calls for new Covid-19 origins inquiry amid concerns China withheld data from WHO-led team, India jab 80 per cent effective in preventing Covid, initial results show, separate study comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated people, study by Israel's Clalit Research Institute and Harvard University, J&J vaccine – which was tested in the United States, South Africa and several Latin American countries – had 66 per cent efficacy overall, Several European countries, including France and Germany, study carried out by the developers of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab found that it elicited good antibody responses, was not effective at preventing mild to moderate disease, estimating it could take just six weeks to adapt the vaccine, tweaked version won’t be ready until September, UK and German firms GSK and Curevac collaborating on a multi-valent vaccine, now no longer needs to be kept at deep freeze conditions, tweeted the price the European Union was paying for the leading vaccines which gives some indication over price per dose.