EU commission approves Moderna shot

AMSTERDAM — The European Union’s executive commission gave the green light Wednesday to Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine, providing the 27-nation bloc with a second vaccine to use in the desperate battle to tame the virus rampaging across the continent.

The European Commission granted conditional marketing authorization for the vaccine. The decision came against a backdrop of high infection rates in many EU countries and strong criticism of the slow pace of vaccinations across the region of some 450million people.

“We are providing more COVID-19 vaccines for Europeans. With the Moderna vaccine, the second one now authorized in the EU, we will have a further 160 million doses. And more vaccines will come, “European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.

The EMA recommended the conditional authorization after a meeting earlier Wednesday.

“This vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency,” said EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke. “It is a testament to the efforts and commitment of all involved that we have this second positive vaccine recommendation just short of a year since the pandemic was declared by WHO.”

The EMA last month granted the same conditional approval to a COVID-19 vaccine made by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. Both vaccines require giving people two shots.

The EU has ordered 80 million doses of the Moderna vaccine with an option for a further 80 million. The bloc also has committed to buying 300 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides said the vaccine authorization “will ensure that 460 million doses will be rolled out with increasing speed in the EU, and more will come. Member states have to ensure that the pace of vaccinations follows suit.”