About two weeks after the BioNtec-Pfizer anti-Coronavirus vaccine was licensed in the European Union (EU), today, the European Medicines Agency approved the vaccine for the American company Moderna as well.
The Agency announced that it gave the green light to use the American company Moderna vaccine against the emerging Coronavirus, in the second decision of the EU related to licensing a vaccine for the virus.
The Amsterdam-based regulator said in a statement that "The European Medicines Agency recommended granting a license to conditionally market the Moderna vaccine, to prevent 18-year-old people from contracting the Coronavirus."
It is hoped that the approval of Moderna vaccine will boost the vaccination campaigns in the EU, which lingers far behind the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel.
The European Medicines Agency Executive Director Emer Cooke said in a statement that "This vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency."
Cooke added that ''Moderna vaccine is an indication of the efforts and commitment of all concerned organisation to have a second positive recommendation for a vaccine in less than a year after the World Health Organization declared the pandemic."
On her part, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the vaccine's approval is "Good news for our efforts to provide more Covid-19 vaccines to Europeans."
On December 18, the vaccine received emergency approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a week after the German-American BaioNtech-Pfizer vaccine was approved.
It is noteworthy that Moderna vaccine is easy to store at minus 20 degrees Celsius, unlike BioNtech and Pfizer vaccine, which can only be stored at a very low temperature of minus 70 degrees, forcing its providers to develop special containers for its transportation.
On December 21, the European Medicines Agency approved BioNtec and Pfizer vaccine for use in Europe, where the vaccination campaigns began on December 27.
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