(Eagle News) – The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Moderna vaccine.
In an online press conference, FDA Director General Eric Domingo said that they granted the EUA to Moderna, which is produced in the United States, “after rigorous and thorough review by regulatory and our medical experts using the currently available published and unpublished data.”
“FDA is granting an emergency use authorization to Zuellig Pharma Corp. for the…COVID-19 vaccine Moderna,” Domingo said,
With the grant of EUA to Moderna, the Philippines can now choose from seven vaccines given EUA by the country’s FDA. The other vaccines with EUA are Pfizer BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sinovac’s Coronavac, Gamaleya’s Sputnik V, Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen, and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.
-94.1 percent effifcacy-
Moderna, which has a reported 94.1 percent efficacy against COVID-19, is administered in two doses 28 days apart. It has been approved for Emergency Use Listing by the World Health Organization on April 30, to be used for those aged 18 years and above.
The vaccines require storage of negative 25 degrees Celsius to negative 15 degrees Celsius, but it can be kept in refrigerator temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius up to 30 days “prior to withdrawal of the first dose,” according to WHO.
-20M Moderna doses expected this year-
The first Moderna vaccine doses are expected to arrive by June 15, according to US Ambassador to the Philippines Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez. As much as 20 million doses are targeted for delivery within the year.
“We’re confident. Sinabi naman sa atin ng Moderna na this small dose this June 15. Tapos July, Agusut to Setember, magakakaroon ng 1 to 2 million doses, all the way hanggang December, hanggang sa maabot natin yung 20 million doses na binili natin sa Moderna,” the ambassador said in an earlier interview with Eagle News Service’s Balitalakayan.
(Eagle News Service)
