Health News Roundup: Shot in the dark - Early COVID-19 vaccine; Moderna vaccine success gives world more hope and more

Moderna said on Monday its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19, based on interim data from a late-stage clinical trial, becoming the second developer to report results that far exceeded expectations, after Pfizer and BioNTech said last week their vaccine candidate was more than 90% effective.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Philadelphia bans all indoor gatherings as COVID-19 surges across the United States

The city of Philadelphia will ban indoor gatherings altogether and the nearby state of New Jersey will strictly limit their size as U.S. officials struggle to slow a COVID-19 surge that could overwhelm hospitals and kill thousands. Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city, is strongly urging residents to shelter at home and "prohibiting indoor gatherings of any size in any location, public or private," health commissioner Thomas Farley said at a news conference on Monday.

Explainer: Shot in the dark - Early COVID-19 vaccine efficacy explained

Moderna Inc delivered the latest good news from COVID-19 vaccine developers, saying its experimental vaccine is 94.5% effective in preventing the disease based on interim data from a late-stage trial. Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE on Nov. 9 trumpeted early data indicating their mRNA candidate is more than 90% effective.

Canada's remote Nunavut to impose COVID-19 lockdown after community outbreak

Canada's remote Arctic territory of Nunavut is suffering its first community outbreak of COVID-19 and will close all non-essential services, as well as schools, for at least two weeks, officials said on Monday. "This is an outbreak," Michael Patterson, Nunavut's chief public health officer, told a news conference streamed online from the territory's capital, Iqaluit. "There has been community transmission occurring in Arviat in the last little while."

We can stop COVID-19: Moderna vaccine success gives world more hope

Moderna Inc's experimental vaccine is 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19 based on interim data from a late-stage trial, the company said on Monday, becoming the second U.S. drugmaker to report results that far exceed expectations. Together with Pfizer Inc's vaccine, which is also more than 90% effective, and pending more safety data and regulatory review, the United States could have two vaccines authorized for emergency use in December with as many as 60 million doses of vaccine available this year.

Exclusive: EU eyes COVID vaccine deal with Moderna at less than $25 per dose, says source

The European Commission wants to reach a deal with Moderna Inc for the supply of millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate for a price below $25 per dose, an EU official involved in the talks said. Moderna said on Monday its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19, based on interim data from a late-stage clinical trial, becoming the second developer to report results that far exceeded expectations, after Pfizer and BioNTech said last week their vaccine candidate was more than 90% effective.

CureVac deal takes EU's COVID vaccine supplies close to 2 billion

The European Union has struck a deal for up 405 million doses of German biotech firm CureVac's potential COVID-19 vaccine, the head of the EU executive said on Monday, taking total supplies secured by the bloc to nearly 2 billion doses. The deal with CureVac follows EU supply agreements with AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi , and Pfizer for a combined 1.4 billion doses of their potential vaccines.

World should not be complacent after COVID-19 vaccine news: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed Moderna reporting on Monday that its experimental vaccine showed 94.5% efficacy but said that "many questions" remained and it was no time for complacency. Only very limited amounts of any vaccine will be available in the first half of 2021 for people other than priority health workers, WHO officials said.

Breakthrough COVID vaccine tech could help defeat other diseases

Breakthrough technology that transforms the body into a virus-zapping vaccine factory is poised to revolutionise the fight against COVID-19 but future pandemics and even cancer could be next, scientists say. The initial success of so-called messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines in late-stage trials by Moderna as well as Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech is the first proof the concept works. Both experimental vaccines had efficacy rates above 90% based on interim findings, which was far higher than expected and well above the 50% threshold U.S. regulators insist upon for vaccines.

U.S. logs 1 million new COVID-19 cases last week, deaths up 12%

The United States recorded more than 1 million new COVID-19 cases last week as new infections rose in every state except for Hawaii, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county reports. Deaths increased 12% in the week ended Nov. 15 and averaged more than 1,100 people per day.

Moderna vaccine storage requirements enables distribution in rural America: U.S. official

Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine will be easy to distribute, particularly to rural areas, because it can be stored for one month at standard refrigerator temperatures, Matthew Hepburn, head of vaccines for the U.S. Operation Warp Speed program, said on Monday. Hepburn's comments followed release of interim results from a late-stage clinical trial that showed the experimental vaccine to be 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19.