COVID vaccine: Moderna jab given the green light by European Medicines Agency Access to the comments
The EU’s medicines regulator on Wednesday recommended authorising a second coronavirus vaccine developed by biotechnology company Moderna.
The European Commission now needs to approve the vaccine to make it available to member states.
Many hope that with multiple vaccines authorised in the EU, those who are vulnerable to the disease will be vaccinated more quickly.
Vaccinations began in the EU on December 27 after the bloc authorised the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Like that vaccine, the Moderna jab uses messenger RNA (mRNA) to instruct cells to make the coronavirus’ spike protein.
The EU’s medicines regulator on Wednesday recommended authorising a second coronavirus vaccine developed by biotechnology company Moderna.
The European Commission now needs to approve the vaccine to make it available to member states.
Many hope that with multiple vaccines authorised in the EU, those who are vulnerable to the disease will be vaccinated more quickly.
Vaccinations began in the EU on December 27 after the bloc authorised the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Like that vaccine, the Moderna jab uses messenger RNA (mRNA) to instruct cells to make the coronavirus’ spike protein.
The company had enrolled 30,000 participants in its phase three trials and announced in November that the vaccine was more than 94% effective.
“This vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency,” said Emer Cooke, Executive Director of the EU agency in a statement.
“It is a testament to the efforts and commitment of all involved that we have this second positive vaccine recommendation just short of a year since the pandemic was declared by WHO.”
The first study participants received the vaccine in May 2020, and the vaccine requires two doses administered 28 days apart.
