AMSTERDAM (PA) – The European Union’s executive committee gave the green light on Wednesday to the COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna Inc., giving the bloc of 27 nations a second vaccine to use in the desperate fight to tame the virus that is spreading. extends across the continent.
The European Commission has granted a conditional marketing authorization for the vaccine. The decision came amid high infection rates in many EU countries and strong criticism of the slow pace of vaccinations in the region of some 450 million people.
“We offer more COVID-19 vaccines for Europeans. With the Moderna vaccine, the second now authorized in the EU, we will have another 160 million doses. And more vaccines will come, “European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
The EMA recommended conditional clearing following a meeting earlier Wednesday.
“This vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency,” said EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke. “It is a testament to the efforts and commitment of all involved that we have this second positive vaccine recommendation shortly after one year since the pandemic was declared by the WHO.”
Last month, the EMA gave the same conditional approval to a coronavirus vaccine developed by the American doctor Pfizer and BioNTech from Germany. Both vaccines require people to be given two shots.
The EU has ordered 80 million doses of Moderna vaccine with the option for another 80 million. The bloc also pledged to buy 300 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the vaccine authorization “will ensure that 460 million doses will be launched at an increased rate in the EU and more will come. Member States must ensure that the pace of vaccinations follows suit. “
German Health Minister Jens Spahn – who has been critical of the EMA’s slow pace in the past – said shortly before the EMA’s authorization announcement that the Moderna vaccine is expected to begin launching in EU countries next week. Germany will receive 2 million doses in the first quarter and 50 million in all of 2021, Spahn told reporters in Berlin.
“The problem is the lack of production capacity with global demand,” he said.
Spahn said that if additional vaccines are approved in the EU beyond the BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, “we will be able to offer everyone in Germany a vaccine by the summer”.
He insisted that the whole-block purchasing strategy was the right one, as it gave producers the certainty to continue production and ensured a fair distribution among all 27 EU countries.
The early results of large, yet unfinished studies show that both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines appear safe and highly protective, although Moderna is easier to handle because it does not need to be stored at ultra-frozen temperatures.
The EU agency has given the go-ahead for the use of the Moderna vaccine to people aged 18 and over. He said the side effects “were usually mild or moderate and improved within days of vaccination”.
The most common side effects are “pain and swelling at the injection site, fatigue, chills, fever, swollen or sensitive lymph nodes under the arm, headache, muscle and joint pain, nausea and vomiting,” the EMA said.
Cook stressed that EU authorities “will closely monitor vaccine safety and efficacy data to ensure continued protection of the EU public. Our work will always be guided by scientific evidence and our commitment to protecting the health of EU citizens. “
The United States, Canada and Israel have already authorized the use of the Moderna vaccine. The United States issued a green light for emergency use to people over the age of 18 on December 18, followed by Canada five days later, with a temporary permit for people over the age of 18. Israel authorized the vaccine on Monday.
Moderna said on Monday that it is increasing its estimate for global vaccine production in 2021 from 500 to 600 million doses. The company said it “continues to invest and add staff to accumulate up to 1 billion doses by 2021.”
Both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech photos are mRNA vaccines, made with a revolutionary new technology. They do not contain coronavirus – which means they cannot cause infections. Instead, they use a piece of genetic code that trains the immune system to recognize the spike protein on the surface of the virus, ready to attack if the real one appears.
The EU officially started giving Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines on December 27, but the speed of each nation’s inoculation program has varied widely. France vaccinated about 500 people in the first week, while Germany vaccinated 200,000. The Dutch only started making vaccines on Wednesday, the last EU nation to start doing so.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz wrote on Twitter that the approval of the Moderna vaccine “is another important step in the fight against the pandemic. This means that we have more vaccines available in the EU and we can fight the pandemic faster. “
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Mike Corder reported from The Hague, the Netherlands. Associated Press writer Frank Jordans of Berlin contributed to the report.
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