WHO granted emergency clearance for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday granted emergency approval to the vaccine against covid-19 from the American firm Moderna. In this way it becomes the fourth inoculant that gets the green light from the United Nations organization after Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).

This approval implies that Moderna vaccines can be part of the COVAX program, through which the WHO distributes doses of vaccines – mainly to developing countries – and which until now has sent mainly vaccines manufactured by AstraZeneca. And it also helps countries that don’t have the means to determine whether a drug is effective and safe to access it faster.

Previously, Moderna’s vaccine, which like the one developed by Pfizer uses messenger RNA technology, had been reviewed by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts, also linked to the WHO, which had previously recommended its use in patients. over 18 years old.

The WHO is also examining these days the possible emergency use of Chinese vaccines manufactured by the Sinopharm and Sinovac laboratories, although so far it has not issued any conclusions, despite the fact that experts from the The organization began studying data from the first of these before Moderna. .

Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, from the Gamaleya laboratory, is also being considered for possible listing, although it is in earlier stages of the WHO approval process. until we have more data to make the decision to include them.

Moderna’s vaccine has been shown to be 94.1% effective in laboratory tests and, according to the WHO, can be stored at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees, similar to those in a regular refrigerator, so It does not need to be kept in ultra-cold, which facilitates its distribution and storage.

The United States Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the Moderna vaccine on December 18, 2020, and the European Medicines Agency issued a marketing authorization valid throughout the European Union on December 18, 2020. January 6, 2021.

Moderna officials said Thursday they plan to produce up to 3 billion doses of their vaccine in 2022 with new funding commitments to boost supply at manufacturing centers in Europe and the United States.

With information from AFP and EFE

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