Mich. participants helped vaccine trial diversity

A second experimental COVID-19 vaccine — this one from Moderna Inc. — yielded extraordinarily strong early results Monday, another badly needed dose of hope as the pandemic enters a terrible new phase.

And it appears Michigan had a big role to play in it.

Moderna's vaccine is being studied in 30,000 volunteers who received either the real thing or a dummy shot.

One of the largest sites was in Michigan, administered by the Henry Ford Health System. They had 700 participants.

Officials say Henry Ford was a key site for enrolling minority volunteers who were hardest hit by COVID-19.

"We are very excited about these results. It's really, really encouraging, particularly at this time in the winter when we come up to winter for the pandemic," said Dr. Paul Kilgore, the study's co-principal investigator at Henry Ford Health System:

Moderna said its vaccine appears to be 94.5% effective, according to preliminary data from an ongoing study. A week ago, competitor Pfizer Inc. announced its own vaccine looked 90% effective — news that puts both companies on track to seek permission within weeks for emergency use in the U.S.