CSL staff are working in the laboratory on November 08, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia, where they will begin making COVID-19 vaccines at AstraZeneca-Oxford University.
Darrian Traynor Getty Images
LONDON – The UK medicines regulator approved the Moderna coronavirus vaccine on Friday for emergency use in the country.
This is the third sighting approved in Britain, following earlier approval for the vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech, and Oxford University and AstraZeneca.
In a press release, the country’s Department of Health said the Moderna vaccine meets the “strict standards of safety, efficacy and quality” of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
She said the UK had prescribed an additional 10 million doses of the vaccine, bringing its total to 17 million. They are expected to be available in the spring.
The ModRAna vaccine was authorized by the MHRA after months of rigorous clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people, the news said. She said it is 94% effective in preventing Covid, including the elderly.
“This is further good news and another tool in our arsenal to eradicate this terrible disease,” Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said in a statement.
The UK has already vaccinated around 1.5 million people and Hancock said Friday’s agreement will allow the country to further accelerate its vaccination program.
Britain has reported nearly 2.9 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, and more than 78,600 related deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The country is currently battling a new strain of the more susceptible virus and on Thursday reported the second highest number of daily deaths from Covid at 1,162.