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Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine - What's Next And Why Masks Will Still Be Needed

BOSTON (CBS) - Moderna announced Monday it will send its COVID-19 vaccine to the Food and Drug Administration to get emergency use authorization.

From here, an FDA advisory panel made up of independent scientists and physicians will carefully review the data that has been submitted and then make a recommendation to the FDA which can either follow their recommendation or make its own determination.

In order to be granted emergency use authorization, the treatment, in this case a COVID-19 vaccine, will need to show that the known benefits clearly outweigh the known risks. This process usually takes up to a few weeks.

It's not clear yet if the vaccine can prevent infection or just disease.

The vaccine seems to be very good at preventing COVID symptoms, especially severe symptoms. But, it's not clear if you can still get infected, not exhibit symptoms, and unwittingly continue to pass the virus on to others.

Until that is figured out hopefully sometime next year, wearing masks will continue to be important to protect other people, even if you get vaccinated.

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