“The Moderna vaccine was overwhelmingly approved. Distribution will begin immediately,” he wrote on Twitter.
This follows a recommendation from an expert panel on Thursday to grant emergency use approval for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine in the United States.
Modern vaccine approved by overwhelming majority. Distribution to start immediately.
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 1608295054000
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to issue a formal approval on Friday. This would make Moderna’s vaccine the second to be approved in a Western country after the one developed by Pfizer-BioNTech.
Trump’s announcement came as US Vice President Mike Pence and his wife received the Covid-19 vaccine live on television, in a public display designed to increase national confidence in the measure.
Pence indicated that formal approval of Moderna would be a matter of hours.
“We have one, maybe two hours from now, safe and effective coronavirus vaccines,” he said.
Thursday’s hearing came as the death toll from coronavirus is fast approaching 310,000 in the country with the world’s largest Covid-19 outbreak, which this week began vaccinating healthcare workers and care residents. long-term with the Pfizer vaccine.
Both groundbreaking vaccines are based on cutting-edge messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology, which had never been approved before the pandemic, and both are two-dose regimens.
The United States, which has recorded more than 17 million cases of the virus, will likely become the first country to approve the Moderna vaccine.
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