CSL staff will be working in the laboratory on 8 November 2020 in Melbourne, Australia, where they will start manufacturing the AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine.
Darrian Traynor | Getty Images
LONDON – The UK’s drug regulator on Friday approved the Moderna coronavirus vaccine for emergencies in the country.
This is the third shot approved in Britain, following earlier approvals of the vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech, and the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.
In a statement, the country’s health department said the Modern vaccine met the “strict standards for safety, efficacy and quality” of the Regulatory Agency for Medicines and Healthcare Products.
He added that the UK had ordered an extra 10 million doses of the vaccine, taking the total to 17 million. They are expected to be available from spring.
The MHRA has approved the Moderna vaccine after months of rigorous clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people, the release said. He added that it is 94% effective in preventing Covid, including in the elderly.
“This is further good news and another weapon in our arsenal to tame this horrible disease,” Matt Hancock, secretary of health and social care, said in a statement.
The UK has already vaccinated about 1.5 million people and Hancock said the country could further accelerate its vaccination by approving it on Friday.
According to Johns Hopkins University data, Britain has reported nearly 2.9 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 78,600 related deaths.
The country is currently struggling with a new type of virus that is more transmissible and reported its second highest number of daily deaths from Covid at 1,162 on Thursday.