US FDA authorises Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine has become the second to receive emergency-use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The decision provides some welcome news for a nation with a COVID-19 death toll of more than 307,000.

The FDA announced the authorisation on Friday (local time) after the agency’s panel of outside experts endorsed its use on Thursday.

The decision marks the first regulatory authorisation in the world for Moderna’s vaccine and validation of its messenger RNA technology, less than a year after the first COVID-19 case was identified in the United States.

The biotech company has worked with the US Government to prepare for the distribution of 5.9 million shots as early as this weekend.

More to come.

Reuters