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As Pfizer vaccine arrives in territory, second vaccine gains FDA approval

Covid-19 vaccine bottles
fili@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Even before the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the second vaccine by Moderna Inc. to fight against the coronavirus, the federal government has already allocated more than 2,000 dose of the Moderna vaccine for American Samoa expected to arrive by the end of the this month.

And the logistics surrounding the shipping and storage of the Moderna vaccine — which was designed to be stored at regular freezer temperatures — is not as challenging as the Pfizer vaccine that requires a minus 70 Celsius temperature, according to local Health officials.

As the FDA last Friday issued a go-ahead for the emergency use of the second-vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health, the territory’s first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine arrived safely last Saturday on the weekly cargo flight, with vaccinations expected to start going into arms in American Samoa yesterday.

Moderna has about 5.9 million doses ready for shipment set to begin over the weekend, according to Operation Warp Speed, the government’s vaccine development program in a national announcement last Friday.

During the ASG Vaccine Distribution Task Force presentation at last Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, Health Department Senior Epidemiologist, Dr. Aifili John Tufa, presented information and doses for American Samoa for both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. (See last Friday’s Samoa News on the Pfzier vaccine.)

“By the end of this month, we’re expecting 2,400 doses” of the Moderna vaccine, said Dr. Tufa who noted that the actual date of shipment arrival was not firmed up as of the time of the cabinet meeting.

“In this shipment of Moderna vaccine, we’re expecting first and second doses,” he said. “Orders for this vaccine — we can submit an order to the Operation Warp Speed group every week or every month depending on how fast we can push it out to our population.”

Like the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine “also requires two doses before the person is considered fully immunized” and the doses are taken four weeks part, according to Dr. Tufa, who also explained that the logistics surrounding shipping and storage of Moderna vaccine “is a little bit easier.”

“We can store this in a minus 20 Celsius temperature,” he said and explained that “if you look at your freezer at your house, those are usually minus 20 Celsius. So we have a lot of freezers here. Storage is easy, and if it does get here, we can store it up to six months.

“Once thawed and kept in refrigerator, it is good for up to 30 days,” he said.

According to the DoH official, the current plan at this point is that the first shipments are both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, but subsequent shipments will be only Moderna.

During a national news conference over the weekend updating the nation on the Moderna vaccine distribution, US Army General Gustav Perna, the Chief Operating Officer of Operation Warp Speed, said the Moderna vaccine can be shipped and stored at standard freezer temperatures and it is being packed in containers of 100-doses each.

Information released by the FDA in authorizing the emergency use of the Moderna includes that, in a study of 30,000 volunteers, the Moderna vaccine was more than 94% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in people 18 and older. It also strongly protected older adults, who are most vulnerable.

According to the FDA, the most commonly reported side effects, which typically lasted several days, were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, swollen lymph nodes in the same arm as the injection, nausea and vomiting, and fever.

The federal agency also says that both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines remain experimental, and the government is closely monitoring safety in case rare problems crop up.

Furthermore, additional studies are needed to tell if the vaccine should be used by pregnant women and children. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should discuss whether to get the vaccine with their doctor.

The FDA website (www.fda.gov) provides more specific details on Moderna vaccine and other information. Also contact the local Health Department hotline — call 219 — if the public has questions.