Europe Begins Evaluation of Moderna Vaccine Approval Following Pfizer

A novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine under development by the American pharmaceutical company Moderna.
[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will hold a meeting on the 6th (local time) to evaluate the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine developed by the U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna.

This meeting aims to assess whether to approve the sale of the Moderna vaccine within the 27 member countries of the European Union (EU). Local media expect that the EMA will recommend the use of the Moderna vaccine.

If the EMA recommends the use of the Moderna vaccine, the EU Commission will make the final official approval decision, after which each member country can begin vaccinations.

If final approval is granted, the Moderna vaccine will become the second COVID-19 vaccine available for use within the EU. Previously, on the 21st of last month, the EU Commission approved the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German company BioNTech. Subsequently, member countries began full-scale vaccinations on the 27th of the same month.

The United States, Canada, and Israel have already approved the use of the Moderna vaccine following the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The meeting was originally scheduled for the 12th but was moved up as EU member countries pressured for rapid approval. The EMA also held a meeting on the 4th to discuss vaccine approval but did not reach a final conclusion.

According to Moderna, the final analysis of the Phase 3 clinical trial showed that Moderna's vaccine has a 94.1% preventive efficacy. Like the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the Moderna vaccine was developed using messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) containing the virus's genetic information, but unlike the Pfizer vaccine, which requires ultra-cold storage at minus 70 degrees Celsius, the Moderna vaccine can be stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.