EU approves Moderna vaccine, paving way for 160 million extra doses

The Moderna Covid-19 vaccine is expensive but easier to store

Credit: Gary Coronado/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock 

The EU’s medicines regulator on Wednesday approved Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, opening the door for the bloc’s 27 members to get access to 160 million doses.

The European Medicines Agency granted "conditional marketing authorisation" for the jab, under a fast-track process designed for use during health crises amid criticism that the bloc is moving more slowly on vaccine approval than other countries.

Moderna’s jab comes in two doses, similar to the already approved Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, but should be administered 28 days apart. EMA confirmed Moderna’s claims of a 94.1 per cent efficacy rate.

It is the most expensive of the EU’s vaccine candidates, at $18 (€15) per dose according to leaked figures. But as it only needs to be kept at around -20 degrees Celsius, it is easier to store than Pfizer’s jab, which needs to be kept at -70 Celsius.

“Good news for our efforts to bring more COVID vaccines to Europeans!” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted, adding that her services will work at “full speed” to give Moderna a final rubber stamp.

Moderna said in late December that deliveries from its Europe-based facilities would start "early in 2021" but has not yet committed to a firm deadline. The firm’s current global capacity is some 600 million doses by the end of the year, although it plans to try to ramp that up to one billion.

The EU has an order of 160 million doses on its books but it is unclear when exactly those will be received.

The bloc now joins Canada and the United States, which gave Moderna their approval late last year, while the UK’s regulator is still assessing the vaccine. The British government has ordered 5 million doses.

Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter criticised the UK, Israel, Russia and China during a TV interview yesterday for “vaccinating people with vaccines that do not have the same standard as the ones we use”.

She insisted that it was “a gamble that went well” that the Pfizer vaccine was eventually also approved by the EMA.

Vaccinations are progressing at different rates across mainland Europe. The Netherlands was the last country to join the jab drive today, while Germany has been criticised for trying to secure an extra 30 million doses for its own use, despite an EU pledge to negotiate as a bloc.

The Commission has insisted that Germany’s negotiations are part of Brussels’ own efforts to secure an extra 100 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine.