The European Medicines Agency has given the green light for the vaccine created by Moderna, making it the second COVID-19 shot to be allowed for general use across the European Union as tensions continued to heighten over the slow implementation of vaccination programs in the bloc.
EU Approves Moderna Vaccine
In a move that should relax agitation over a shortfall in supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot and the EU's longer authorization process, the Amsterdam-based regulator stated on Wednesday it had endowed a conditional marketing authorization for Moderna's novel coronavirus vaccine for adults.
The European Commission's authorization follows a positive endorsement from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The latter reached the decision following an assessment of the coronavirus vaccine's safety, quality, and efficacy.
According to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a statement, "We are providing more COVID-19 vaccines for Europeans. With the Moderna vaccine, the second one now authorized in the EU, we will have a further 160 million doses." Move vaccines are slated to arrive, reported The Epoch Times.
The move comes as more contagious variants of COVID-19, adding additional urgency to immunization efforts.
Inoculating the European Union's 450 million people could be a driving force to ending a pandemic that has nearly 1.9 million fatalities globally.
The conditional marketing authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine follows a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) that was issued yesterday.
The CHMP endorsement was supported by Moderna's 3rd phase of the clinical trial, surmising its COVID-19 vaccine in people aged 18 to 94 years old.
The EU's medicines watchdog approved the second vaccine, in relief to grappling European nations as the world clinched a grim new record of 15,700 deaths in the last 24 hours.
The Moderna vaccine is now slated to become part of Pfizer-BioNTech's shot for use in the 27-nation European Union, where governments are tackling soaring caseloads and gradual distribution of the vaccines already available.
According to von der Leyen on Twitter, "Good news for our efforts to bring more Covid-19 vaccines to Europeans. Now we are working at full speed to approve it and make it available in the EU," reported The Brussels Times.
EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke stated, "This vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency. 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," reported Channel News Asia.
The European Union has secured the purchase of a maximum of 160 million doses of the Moderna vaccine. These are enough to vaccinate 80 million people of its 448 million citizens as part of a joint vaccine plan aimed to affirm equitable access throughout the bloc.
According to the European Commission, under that contract, the United States biotech company has vowed to deliver all their doses from now to September 2021.
