The Moderna vaccine is being given to patients in the UK for the first time today.
The first doses of the jab will be administered at the West Welsh General Hospital in Carmarthen – and a total of 5,000 doses have been distributed to vaccination centers.
The Moderna vaccine is the third to be approved for use in the UK, and will be rolled out in conjunction with samples from Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford University-AstraZeneca.
The UK has purchased 17 million doses of the Moderna jab, enough for 8.5 million people, and phase three results indicate that the vaccine is 100% effective against severe cases of coronavirus.
Health Minister Matt Hancock said: ‘I am delighted that we can start today with the UK launch of the Modern Vaccine in West Wales.
“The British government has secured vaccines on behalf of the whole country, and the vaccination program has shown that our country is working together at its best.
“Three out of five people across the UK have received at least one dose, and today we are starting the third approved vaccine. Wherever you live, get a sting.
Wales Health Minister Vaughan Gething added that the launch of a third vaccine “will make a significant contribution to our defense in the face of the coronavirus and will help protect our most vulnerable”.
Scotland received its first batch of Moderna vaccines on Monday, and a Health Department spokesman said the hotspot would be rolled out in England as soon as possible this month.
The UK has now approved three vaccines – from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna. Photo: AP
Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Monday that it would be deployed ‘approximately’ the third week of April ‘.
It has not been confirmed when the rollout of Moderna in Northern Ireland will begin.
According to Moderna, no serious safety concerns have been identified among those who took the vaccine. Severe events after the first dose included pain around the injection site, while some had fatigue, muscle aches, joint pain, and headaches after receiving their second dose.
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Concerns over Oxford vaccine raised
This comes after a trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for children in the United Kingdom is interrupted while the drug regularly investigates a possible link between the jab and rare blood clots in adults.
A spokesman for the University of Oxford stressed that there were “no safety considerations” with this particular study, but that further information from the Regulatory Agency (Medicines and Healthcare Products) was awaited.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘No decisions have been made as to whether children should be vaccinated.
“We will be guided by the advice of our experts on these issues, including the independent MHRA and the Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee.”
Over the weekend it was reported that there were 30 cases of blood clotting taken up by the MHRA from more than 18 million doses of AstraZeneca shot.
The MHRA confirmed that of the thirty people, seven died on March 24.
The World Health Organization maintains that the benefits of this vaccine outweigh any risks.
Adam Finn, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Bristol, said: “There are many things that are very clear. The first is that these cases are very rare. The second is that the vaccines available in the UK and in used, available. “COVID is very effective.”
He added: ‘In short, if you are currently being offered a dose Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, will increase your chances of staying alive if you take the vaccine, and it will decrease if you do not. ‘