The European Commission gave, this Wednesday, January 6, 2021, its “conditional marketing authorization” for the vaccine developed by Moderna, a few hours after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave its approval. With the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, Moderna thus becomes the second vaccine to be authorized in the European Union.
EMA and European Commission give green light for Moderna vaccine
Great news for the vaccine developed by the American laboratory Moderna. Indeed this Wednesday, January 6, 2021, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission announced that the Moderna vaccine is now authorized in the European Union, thus becoming the second vaccine available (after that of BioNTech / Pfizer) on the market. European. She thus declared: ” the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has found Moderna’s vaccine to be safe and effective. This is good news in our efforts to provide more vaccines to Europeans “.
A messenger RNA vaccine with logistical advantages
Like BioNTech / Pfizer’s vaccine, Moderna’s vaccine works with a messenger RNA molecule. In other words, the injections must allow the immune system to produce antibodies in order to fight the virus. Similar to BioNTech / Pfizer, the Moderna vaccine is given as two injections, 28 days apart. From a logistical point of view, the Moderna vaccine has a major advantage: it can be stored at -20 ° C unlike that of Pfizer / BioNTech which must be kept at -70 ° C when leaving the manufacturing plant.
An efficiency rate of 94.1%
As for its effectiveness, the vaccine developed by the Moderna laboratory has shown, during clinical trials, an effectiveness rate of 94.1% and 90.9% in participants at risk of severe Covid-19. The clinical trials involved 30,420 participants, half of whom received a placebo and the other half had been vaccinated. No cases of severe form of Covid-19 were noted in the vaccinated participants. The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine would be a little more effective with a rate of 95% effectiveness according to clinical trials.
The first deliveries expected next week
While the European Union has already ordered nearly 300 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Europe will have 160 million additional doses of vaccine to fight Covid -19. Following the authorizations given by the EMA and the European Commission, Moderna thus announced that “ the first deliveries of the vaccine to European countries should start as early as next week “.
In France, the Moderna vaccine must receive authorization from the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) before being placed on the market. This should be pronounced in the coming days and could allow the delivery of the first Moderna vaccine vaccinations on French territory, as of next week.
