Europe Authorizes Another COVID-19 Vaccine

The European Commission announced on January 6, 2021, it had granted a conditional marketing authorization (CMA) for the mRNA COVID‑19 vaccine developed by Moderna, Inc. A CMA is an authorization of medicines based on less complete data required for normal marketing authorization.

 With whom the Commission signed a contract in November 2020, Moderna will deliver the total amount of 160 million vaccine doses between the first and the third quarters of 2021.

The Moderna vaccine (mRNA-1272) is based on mRNA that plays a fundamental role in biology, transferring DNA instructions to the cells' protein-making machinery. In an mRNA vaccine, these instructions produce harmless fragments of the virus, which the human body uses to build an immune response to prevent or fight disease, said the company.

Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said in a press release, “We are all in this together and united. This is why we have negotiated the broadest vaccine portfolio in the world for all our Member States."

"Member States have to ensure that the pace of vaccinations follows suit. Our efforts will not stop until vaccines are available for everyone in the EU.”