THE HAGUE – The European Union’s medicines watchdog yesterday said the bloc is likely to get 40 million more Moderna Covid-19 vaccine doses by October, after an output boost at two new United States sites.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) last month gave the green light for the US facilities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire to produce ingredients needed for the vaccine in Europe.
At the time, it estimated that the sites would “allow the production of an additional one to two million vials of ready-to-use vaccine for the UE market every month”.
Yesterday, EMA said it has approved a production boost at the US sites that “is expected to have a significant impact on the supply of Spikevax”, it said in a statement, using the Moderna jab’s brand name.
“It is estimated that in the third quarter of 2021, the US supply chain will provide 40 million vaccine doses for the European market.”
About 70% of adults in the EU have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, said EU chief Ursula von der Leyen earlier this week.
Overall, 57% of over-18s are now fully vaccinated across the bloc’s 27 nations, she said in a statement.
But, she sounded a warning over the “very dangerous” Delta variant that has increasingly taken hold in the continent and seen infection rates begin to tick up again.
“I therefore call on everyone – who has the opportunity – to be vaccinated. For their own health and to protect others.”
EMA also last week approved the use of the Moderna jab for children aged 12 to 17, making it the second vaccine for adolescents for use in the continent. – AFP, July 31, 2021
