UK approves third COVID-19 vaccine as Moderna's jab gets green light

The UK on January 8 approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine which is the third coronavirus jab for the British citizens. As per the report, the UK government had ordered an additional 10 million doses of the vaccine which has shown 94% efficacy against the highly-infectious disease in the final phase of clinical trials. Prior to this, UK Prime minister Boris Johnson’s government had already ordered seven million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Even though additional 10 million doses of the jab are likely to follow, reportedly, it won’t be available until March because the doses are being manufactured firstly in the US. Further, it would also take a few months before the European manufacturing facilities will be ready to distribute the vaccines. 

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UK Health Secretary lauds 'another weapon'

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the news of the third jab to be available in the nation and even called it “another weapon in our arsenal to tame this awful disease” before adding that it will “allow us to accelerate our vaccination programme even further once doses become available.” Moreover, he also reminded the citizens that “While we immunise those most at risk from COVID, I urge everyone to continue following the rules to keep cases low to protect our loved ones.” 

The US has also approved the Moderna vaccine based on the results of a late-stage study of 30,000 volunteers. Before Moderna’s COVID-19 jab, UK became the first nation in the world to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine and has already begun its roll out along with the ones developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca. On January 7, Johnson had informed that nearly 1.26 million doses have been administered in England,  113,000 in Scotland, 49,000 in Wales, along with at least 46,000 in Northern Ireland as the new COVID-19 strain pushes the nation into the toughest lockdown since the pandemic began last year. 

Reports have emerged stating that nearly two million doses of the coronavirus vaccine are set to deliver to the nation every week by the middle of January. Citing an unnamed member of the Oxford-AstraZeneca team, the Times reported that AstraZeneca expects to supply two million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, with up to 90% efficacy, by next week. The report also said that the plan is to eventually ‘build it up fairly’ by the third week of January.

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