AMERICAN pharmaceutical firm Moderna Inc. yesterday applied for emergency use authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA-1273), according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Moderna’s vaccine has a 94 percent efficacy rate and is given in two doses, 28 days apart.
Government is expecting the delivery of 194,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccine in May, and another one million shots in July.
Previously given EUAs are the US firm Pfizer-BioNTech, British-Swedish company AstraZeneca Plc, Chinese private Sinovac Biotech (CoronaVac), Russia’s Gamaleya (Sputnik V), US firm Johnson & Johnson/Janssen, and India’s Bharat Biotech.
FDA Director General Eric Domingo said Moderna’s EUA application is under evaluation by agency experts.
In Geneva, a spokesman for the World Health Organization said Moderna’s vaccine is being reviewed by technical experts for possible WHO emergency use listing.
“Moderna is being reviewed at the TAG (technical advisory group) meeting today,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said in reply to a query. A decision on the US drugmaker’s vaccine was expected in one to four days, he said.
So far COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have received WHO approval, which is a signal to national regulatory authorities on a product’s safety and efficacy.
In Manila, Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said the first 15,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines, are expected to arrive on April 28, will allocated to four local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila, which will participate in the simulation on handling, transportation, storage, and use of the vaccines.
She said the simulation is necessary considering that Sputnik V vaccines, which come in powder and liquid forms, have different storage and handling requirements.
The liquid doses require very cold temperatures while the powder form, which need to be diluted before vaccination, can be stored in normal refrigerator temperature.
The first shipment of Sputnik V was originally set to arrive last Sunday, and the next shipment of 480,000 doses on April 29. — With Reuters
