London, Jan 8: The UK’s medicine regulatory authority on Friday approved a third COVID-19 vaccine for use in the country, made by the American biotech company Moderna which has already been rolled out in the US.
It can now start being rolled out alongside the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines already being administered by the National Health Service (NHS) following approvals last year.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the approval of the Moderna vaccine follows a “thorough and rigorous assessment” by its teams of scientists, including advice from the independent Commission on Human Medicines, which reviewed in-depth all the data to ensure this vaccine meets the required standards of “safety, quality and effectiveness”.
“Having a third COVID-19 vaccine approved for supply following a robust and thorough assessment of all the available data is an important goal to have achieved and I am proud that the agency has helped to make this a reality,” said Dr June Raine, MHRA Chief Executive.
“I want to echo that our goal is always to put the protection of the public first. Once in use, all COVID-19 vaccines are continually monitored by the MHRA.
This ensures that the benefits in protecting people against COVID-19 continue to far outweigh any potential side-effects,” she said. However, supplies of the new jab are not expected to be available until March because while the UK has pre-ordered 7 million doses, they are being manufactured in the US at first and will take a few months before manufacturing facilities in Europe will be ready to distribute.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock called it “another weapon in our arsenal to tame this awful disease”, and added it will “boost our vaccination programme even further once doses become available from the spring”.
In trials with more than 30,000 volunteers, the Moderna vaccine showed that it offers nearly 95 per cent protection from severe COVID-19.
The US Food and Drug Administration had based its decision of approval for America last month based on the results from this study. (PTI)
