WHO panel to make recommendations on Moderna Covid vaccine

A World Health Organization (WHO) panel of vaccine experts is set to issue recommendations on Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday.

The WHO had granted emergency use validation for the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on December 31, 2020, opening the door for countries to expedite their own regulatory approval processes to import and administer the vaccine.

Now the WHO panel has reviewed data from Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine.

In a media advisory about the next week's event, the WHO said on Friday that the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization will make public its interim recommendations to WHO on the use of Moderna Covid-19 (mRNA-1273) vaccine.

"The recommendations have been agreed at the SAGE extraordinary meeting held on January 21 (Thursday)," said the advisory.

The Moderna Covid-19 vaccine has already been approved for emergency use in several countries, including the US.

The vaccine is administered as two doses, one month apart to prevent Covid-19.

According to a report released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday, over 1,200 adverse events were reported after receipt of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine as of January 10, with 10 cases determined to be anaphylaxis.

Minor adverse events after vaccinations are not uncommon.

While many countries rely on their own regulatory systems for vaccine approvals, some countries with weak system depend on WHO's nod to a great extent for rolling out their national vaccination programmes.