WHO Grants Emergency Approval for Moderna Vaccine... US Exports Pfizer Vaccine to Canada

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The World Health Organization (WHO) on the 30th (local time) approved the emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna.

Accordingly, the Moderna vaccine is expected to be distributed through COVAX, an international project for the joint purchase and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. The Moderna vaccine has not yet been supplied to Korea.

The COVID-19 vaccines approved for emergency use by WHO are Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Serum Institute of India, Janssen, and Moderna, making Moderna the fifth.

Meanwhile, the United States has allowed the export of Pfizer vaccines made domestically to Canada. Canada is the second country after Mexico to which the U.S. has permitted the export of domestically produced vaccines. Until now, Pfizer had only exported vaccines made at its Belgium factory to Canada.

Anita Anand, Canada’s Federal Procurement Minister, announced that from May 3 to the end of May, 2 million doses per week, and in June, 2.4 million doses per week will be supplied from Pfizer. Earlier, Canada signed a contract to purchase up to 76 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

The U.S. government has focused on securing vaccine supplies for its own citizens but is under pressure to waive vaccine patents for overseas distribution amid India’s large-scale infection crisis.

In this regard, President Joe Biden mentioned that the U.S. will become a vaccine arsenal and provided 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to India.

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