2nd promising COVID-19 vaccine candidate announced

News of another promising COVID-19 candidate emerged today as Canada inched closer to the 300,000-case count, with the two hardest-hit provinces continuing to report more than 1,000 daily new infections.

Moderna's announcement that its COVID-19 vaccine appears to be 94.5 per cent effective, according to preliminary data, comes a week after a similar announcement from Pfizer.

We just announced that mRNA-1273, our COVID-19 vaccine candidate, has met its primary efficacy endpoint in the first interim analysis of the Phase 3 COVE study.
Read more: https://t.co/vYWEy8CKCv pic.twitter.com/YuLubU1tlx

— Moderna (@moderna_tx) November 16, 2020

Both American companies are among those that have signed agreements with Canada, and have asked Health Canada to review their products.

Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he hoped a vaccine would roll out early next year, but warned a shot won't provide an immediate solution to the second wave currently spurring a surge in cases across the country.

Ontario and Quebec, the two provinces that account for the bulk of Canada's COVID-19 case count, reported 1,487 and 1,218 new infections, respectively, today as well as 10 and 25 more deaths.

Over the weekend, Alberta saw a daily increase of more than 1,000 cases, though that dropped back to 991 on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Green party Leader Annamie Paul says the federal government needs a national task force of scientists to create a co-ordinated response to COVID-19 across the country, saying the current approach is leading to mixed messages.