The World Health Organization (WHO) granted this Friday its emergency approval to Moderna’s covid-19 vaccine, the fifth to receive such approval from the UN health agency.
This procedure helps countries that do not have the means to determine whether a drug is effective and safe can access it more quickly; And it will also allow the Covax system, launched by WHO with other partners to distribute covid-19 vaccines in disadvantaged countries, to contemplate getting more vaccines.
Moderna, a pioneer in vaccines against covid-19, is picking up the pace to maintain its place in the fight against the pandemic, although it remains in the shadow of its competitors, Pfizer/BioNTech.
The pharmaceutical company whose vaccine was one of the first approved in the Western world a few months ago plans to “increase its global production capacity to 3 billion doses in 2022,” the US company announced on Thursday.
Up to now, WHO had approved the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, the two serums of AstraZeneca made in India and South Korea and Johnson & Johnson (Janssen). A decision for the two Chinese vaccines is expected to be made shortly, Sinopharm y Sinovac.
The vaccine developed by Moderna, a pioneering startup in anticovid vaccines, has characteristics similar to that developed by Pfizer / BioNTech, with 94.1 percent efficacy. This American vaccine has been authorized in the European Union, on United States, United Kingdom, Israel, and Singapore, among other countries.
On January 21, it was examined by the Strategic Consultative Group of Experts (SAGE) on vaccination, in charge of issuing recommendations on vaccines. They recommended that the vaccine is used in all age groups from 18 years of age.
WHO experts also recommend that Moderna’s vaccine be administered in two doses with an interval of 28 days, although they noted that the second injection can be “postponed 42 days” (six weeks) in exceptional circumstances, such as a serious crisis. sanitary or dose shortage. However, they do not recommend cutting the dose in half.
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