The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Wednesday gave the nod to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, paving the way for its final authorisation by the European Commission.
The conditional market authorisation of the vaccine jab developed by the US biotechnology company Moderna will mark the bloc’s second vaccine against Coronavirus, as in December, the EU’s medicines watchdog approved the candidate developed by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech.
“This vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency,” said Emer Cooke, Executive Director of EMA, adding that the move marks 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 European Medicines Agency has given a positive evaluation of the Moderna vaccine.
The vaccine is both safe and effective.
Next step: we will grant a marketing authorisation in the EU 🇪🇺 https://t.co/weFerQPI4j
— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) January 6, 2021
The Amsterdam-based agency had brought forward an initial meeting on Moderna’s vaccine to yesterday but it proved inconclusive, as EMA requested more information, and another meeting was scheduled for Wednesday.
The Commission’s chief, Ursula von der Leyen hailed the decision that “will bring more COVID-19 vaccines to Europeans, adding that the EU is now “working at full speed to approve it & make it available in the EU.”
The news for the second Coronavirus vaccine came amid mounting criticism against the EU over its slow vaccine rollout, as although member-states kickstarted vaccinations simultaneously on December 27, only a small number of the EU population has been vaccinated so far.