False: Moderna started testing on humans too quickly.

By: Alice Franklin
December 15 2020

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On February 25, Moderna announced that the vaccine was ready for a phase one trial. There is no evidence that they have acted unsafely or rushed.Moderna began developing a COVID-19 vaccine in January. On February 25, the company announced that the vaccine was ready for a phase one trial. A couple of weeks later, on March 15, the Moderna vaccine was tested on humans for the first time. This trial involved just 45 people aged 18 to 55. As is normal with phase one trials, the Moderna vaccine was assessed for safety and dosage time during this period. Phase two, which took place in May and June, involved testing the vaccine on hundreds of volunteers, and phase three began in late July, and involved 30,000 people. The vaccine has been shown to be highly effective. It is important to remember that, while the development of a COVID-19 vaccine happened quickly, there is no evidence to suggest that safety measures were compromised. According to the Guardian, things have happened so quickly because pharmaceutical companies haven’t had to worry about money—governments have bought vaccines in advance, and multiple public and private bodies have funded research. Also, the mRNA vaccine platform technology (which the Moderna vaccine uses) has been in development for two decades, a great number of volunteers were willing to participate in the trials, and data from the vaccines were reviewed on a “rolling” basis. The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19 including symptoms, prevention and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organisation or your national healthcare authority.