If you could get a coronavirus inoculation this afternoon, you probably wouldn’t care if the clinician told you that the shot might feel a bit chilly. But when it comes to hiring employees or judging which vaccine is going to sell better, it pays to know the difference between candidates that don’t need special help to keep their cool and those that need to be beyond ice-cold to have a chance at success.
Will Moderna‘s newly proven vaccine outperform its competitor made by Pfizer and BioNTech , which is likely to obtain regulatory approval and subsequently hit the market at roughly the same time? Early signs say yes, but not for the first reason that may come to mind.
You can’t just throw your vaccines into any old fridge
Moderna’s mRNA-1273 isn’t any more effective than Pfizer’s candidate when it comes to preventing infection. Both are protective at around 95% effectiveness. The pair also seem to have similarly mild side effect profiles, so with all else being equal there’s no clear favorite. There is one small difference that probably will make mRNA-1273 capture a larger market share and deliver better returns for investors, though. Its advantage is that it doesn’t need to be stored at super-cold temperatures.
