Team that says its vaccine candidate is 95% effective is led by chief medical officer Tal Zaks
In March, as the scale of the global coronavirus crisis became clear, Donald Trump invited a group of pharmaceutical company bosses to the White House. At that meeting Stéphane Bancel, from the biotech firm Moderna, told the US administration that his Massachusetts-based company could have a vaccine ready within just a few months. On Monday, Moderna delivered.
News that its vaccine candidate – which still has to receive formal approval – is nearly 95% effective sent global stock markets higher and, coming on top of the similar recent announcement from the German/US collaboration BioNTech/Pfizer, injected some much-needed optimism about the possibility of a return to normal life.