LAST UPDATE | 4 Jan 2021

THE EU MEDICINES watchdog will not reach a decision on Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine until at least Wednesday.

Earlier it was stated that a decision might be reached today, sooner than expected.

However, a statement released this evening said discussions will continue on Wednesday.

The statement said the EMA’s committee for human medicines’ (CHMP) discussions on the Moderna vaccine did not conclude today.

“It will continue on Wednesday 6th January 2021. No further communication will be issued today by EMA,” the brief statement noted.

The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency had already fast-tracked the decision from the originally scheduled date of 12 January under pressure from EU countries as infections soar.

US-based Moderna’s jab was found to be 94.1% effective in preventing Covid-19 compared to a placebo, in a clinical trial of 30,400 people.

The Moderna vaccine would be the second to be approved for the EU, after the EMA gave the green light for the Pfizer/BioNTech jab in another fast-tracked decision on 21 December.

However the EMA said last week that the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which was approved on Wednesday in Britain, is unlikely to get a green light in the EU in the next month.

With Britain and the United States each having pushed through emergency authorisation of two vaccines, the EMA has been under pressure to speed up its regulatory process, notably from Germany.

The EMA moved from London to Amsterdam after Brexit.

According to the Irish government’s National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy, Ireland has ordered 880,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccine. 

With reporting by © AFP 2021 and Órla Ryan