Moderna vaccine trial to boost economy and jobs

ESRI research professor Kieran McQuinn says the latest successful Covid vaccine trial could save thousands of jobs over Christmas

The EU is likely to order 160 million doses of the Moderna vaccine for member states. File image

A second hugely successful trial for a new vaccine for Covid-19 has the potential to transform the battered Irish economy and save thousands of jobs over Christmas, research professor Kieran McQuinn at the ESRI has predicted.

The boost came after US-based Moderna revealed its vaccine trial of 30,000 people showed a success rate of 94.5%, bettering even the outstanding performance of Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech last week.

Prof. McQuinn told the Irish Examiner that “all going well” the latest news could help Irish firms teetering on the brink of disaster to "hang in there" over Christmas.

The results from the vaccine trials could also accelerate the recovery next year, boost Government finances, and mean that Irish unemployment will be a single-digit figure and not the 10% rate the ESRI had feared just weeks ago, Prof McQuinn said.

The EU is likely to order 160 million doses of the Moderna vaccine for member states, adding to the 300 million vials it secured from Pfizer-BioNTech last week. Other EU deals with pharma firms in phase 3 trials could include AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, and Jansen Pharma.

Leading Irish stock market firms added a cumulative €1.25bn to their values on the Moderna results.

The shares of AIB and Bank of Ireland rose a combined €300m; Ryanair added €300m to its €17bn market value; Irish Ferries-owner ICG gained €30m; while Dalata Hotel Group, which owns the Clayton and Maldron chains, also climbed, to €821m.

“Like buses, good news on the Covid front appears to be coming all at once, or at least with respect to vaccines," said Chris Beauchamp at online broker IG.