The European Union's drug regulator has given the green light to Moderna's SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, the Wall Street Journal reports. The European Commission still has to formalize the approval, the New York Times adds, noting that can take up to two days.
This is the second SARS-CoV-2 vaccine cleared by the European Medicines Agency, which recommended the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for approval last month. Since then, the EU has been offering the vaccine to nursing home residents and healthcare workers, according to the Journal.
This new approval "provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency," Emer Cooke, executive director of the EMA, tells it. "It is a testament to the efforts and commitment of all involved that we have this second positive vaccine recommendation just short of a year since the pandemic was declared."
The Journal adds that the EU has ordered 160 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, which is given in a two-dose regimen.
The US granted emergency authorization for Moderna's SARS-CoV-2 vaccine last month.