New Delhi (NVI): United Kingdom’s medical regulator, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), has approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for use today.
Furthermore, MHRA has agreed to purchase an additional 10 million doses of the shot.
The @moderna_tx #COVID19 vaccine has been approved for use.
This is the third COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in the UK.
MHRA experts have assessed the safety, quality and effectiveness of the vaccine.
Find out more: https://t.co/vw0EA0QxyW pic.twitter.com/RL9gGhBkU5
— MHRAgovuk (@MHRAgovuk) January 8, 2021
UK now has 17 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine on order, and supplies will begin to be delivered from spring.
According to a press release issued by MHRA, Chief Executive Dr June Raine said, “Today’s approval brings more encouraging news to the public and the healthcare sector. Having a third COVID-19 vaccine approved for supply following a robust and thorough assessment of all the available data is an important goal to have achieved and I am proud that the agency has helped to make this a reality.”
The European Union (EU) and the U.S. have also cleared the Moderna product.
Notably, this is the third covid vaccine approved for use in the UK.
The country had approved Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine in early December which was followed by AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford’s Covid-19 shot, which got clearance late last month.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pinned his hopes for a national recovery on a plan to deliver 2 million coronavirus vaccinations a week, after the UK went back into lockdown in an attempt to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed.
The UK was the first western country to approve a coronavirus vaccine and is ahead of its European neighbors on rolling out immunizations.
So far, around 1.5 million people have received at least one shot across the country.
-CHK
