Volunteers prepared doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at Forand Manor in Central Falls, RI on December 30, 2020.
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LONDON – The European Commission on Wednesday approved the Moderna coronavirus vaccine for use in the European Union, following a green light from the European Medicines Agency earlier in the day.
The Commission, the EU’s executive arm, granted the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine conditional marketing approval (CMA). The motion represents the final step in the block approval process.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a statement that the Moderna vaccine would see the bloc receive an additional 160 million doses. “And more vaccines will come.”
“Europe has received up to two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines,” she said. “We will have more than enough safe and effective vaccines to protect all Europeans.”
The approval of the Moderna vaccine, the second now authorized in the EU after the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine, comes as criticism grows about slow spread across the bloc.
Some lawmakers have expressed concern that the EU is too slow in distributing coronavirus vaccines among its citizens.
The use of Covid-19 jabs varies across the block. France reported 516 vaccines in the first week of the release, while Germany had about 240,000 vaccinations on Sunday. The Netherlands has only just begun vaccinating humans against coronavirus.
In addition, there are also questions about whether enough vaccines have been purchased by the EU.
Several officials have asked the commission to explain why it did not buy more jobs. A spokesman said Monday that the foundation was “very much focused on making sure the implementation of our strategy is done, done well.”
Shares of Moderna were nearly 5% higher on Wednesday.
“The EMA human medicines committee has fully evaluated the data on the quality, safety and efficacy of the vaccine and has consequently recommended the granting of formal marketing approval to the European Commission,” the EMA said in an earlier statement on the day.
Emer Cooke, executive director of the Amsterdam-based EMA, said the Moderna vaccine “gives us another tool to overcome the current crisis.”