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Updated May 1st, 2021 at 07:41 IST

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, with 94.1 % efficacy, gets WHO nod for emergency use

The WHO said it has approved and listed Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, making it the fifth vaccine to get emergency use authorisation

Reported by: Gloria Methri
AP/Representative
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The World Health Organization said on Friday that it has approved and listed Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. The listing procedure helps countries that are unable to assess a vaccine's effectiveness and allows the global leaders to distribute it to developing nations. US vaccine Moderna is the fifth jab to be listed by the WHO for emergency use.

The organisation said in a statement that its Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) had found the Moderna vaccine to be 94.1 % effective. New research by the US CDC found that the single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine was 80% effective in preventing infections. It added that the vaccines’ effectiveness jumped to 90% nearly two weeks after the individual was administered with the second shot.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved the Moderna vaccine on 18 December 2020 and it also received marketing authorisation by the European Medicines Agency that is valid throughout the European Union. The other vaccines listed for emergency use by WHO are Pfizer BioNTech; AstraZeneca; Serum Institute of India; and Janssen.

Moderna to expand supply in US, Europe

Moderna on Thursday said it expected to produce up to three billion vaccine doses in 2022 through new funding commitments to boost supply at manufacturing sites in Europe and the US. On Wednesday, it announced that the US has expanded the funding in its COVID-19 vaccine agreement from $236 million to $1.25 billion to assist the firm with the additional costs for trials and research. 

Last week, Moderna announced a new supply agreement with Israel for the year 2022. Under the terms of the agreement, Israel was also given an option to purchase doses of one of Moderna’s variant-specific vaccine candidates subject to regulatory approval. 

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Published May 1st, 2021 at 07:41 IST

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