EU Commission approves 2nd Covid-19 vaccine (Moderna)

• 28 January, 21

The European Union’s pharmaceutical agency green-lighted Moderna Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine, a decision aimed at giving the 27-nation group a second vaccine for use in the fight with the pandemic.

“This vaccine provides us with another tool for overcoming the current emergency,” said Emer Cooke, CEO of EMA. “It is a testament to the efforts and commitment of all involved that we made this second vaccine recommendation only one year after the pandemic was announced by WHO.”

The United States, Canada, and Israel have approved the use of the Moderna vaccine. The United States gave emergency use to those over 18 on December 18, followed by Canada 5 days later with temporary permission also for those over 18, and by Israel.

Both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech injections are mRNA vaccines, produced using groundbreaking new technology. They do not contain any coronaviruses – meaning they cannot cause infection. Instead, they use a genetic code to “train” the immune system to recognize a spike in protein on the surface of the virus, ready to attack if a virus emerges.

The EU officially started Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination on December 27, but the pace of each country’s vaccination program has varied greatly. France vaccinated about 500 people in the first week, while Germany vaccinated 200,000 people, the Netherlands was the latest to start vaccinating.

Source: NBC NEWS