I realize this is off topic. And I expect everyone here has heard about it. But I thought you would like to see some quantitative information.
Here is a note on temperatures. The second article says the Moderna vaccine can be kept at -20°C. The Pfizer vaccine has to be kept at -75°C during shipping and storage. It can be stored in an ordinary refrigerator for up to 5 days before it is used. (https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54889084) I asked a nurse about this. She said there are several vaccines that require cold storage. She said this will probably come as a powder, which is mixed with room temperature fluid before inoculation. The older version of the shingles vaccine was like this. Good news! Moderna's vaccine is reportedly 95% effective. Here are the raw numbers as reported by CNN: 15,000 vaccines administered. 5 people in that group got COVID-19. They had mild cases. 15,000 placebos administered. 90 people in that group got COVID-19. 11 had severe cases. This is reported as 94.5% effective, which I think is too many digits of precision. I would say >90%. But I quibble. I think there is no question it is effective. It seems the vaccine reduces the severity of the disease when it does not prevent it completely There were no severe side effects. There were some side effects in some patients, such as headaches. Fauci said this is good news. If the Pfizer and or the Moderna vaccines are approved, the first ones may be administered in December to risk groups such as doctors and nurses. Fauci predicted the general population may be vaccinated from May to July 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/16/health/Covid-moderna-vaccine.html "Early Data Show Moderna’s Coronavirus Vaccine Is 94.5% Effective Moderna is the second company to report preliminary results from a large trial testing a vaccine. But there are still months to go before it will be widely available to the public." More good news, from CNN. This may drive down the stock market value of Pfizer: While the two vaccines appear to have very similar safety and efficacy profiles, Moderna's vaccine has a significant practical advantage over Pfizer's. Pfizer's vaccine has to be kept at minus 75 degrees Celsius — or about minus 103 degrees Fahrenheit. No other vaccine in the US needs to be kept that cold, and doctors' offices and pharmacies do not have freezers that go that low. Moderna's vaccine can be kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius, which is about minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Other vaccines, such as the one against chickenpox, need to be kept at that temperature. That means Moderna's vaccine can be kept in "a readily available freezer that is available in most doctors' offices and pharmacies," said Dr. Tal Zacks, Moderna's chief medical officer. "We leverage infrastructure that already exists for other marketed vaccines." Another advantage of Moderna's vaccine is that it can be kept for 30 days in the refrigerator, the company announced Monday. Pfizer's vaccine can last only five days in the refrigerator.
