Moderna Vaccine Received Emergency Use Approval

Misbar has discovered that on December 18, 2020, the U.S. FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the second vaccine for the prevention of Covid-19. The emergency use authorization allows the Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine to be distributed in the U.S. for use in individuals 18 years of age and older according to the FDA. While the Moderna vaccine has not received FDA approval, the emergency use authorization signals that the known and potential benefits clearly outweigh its known and potential risks.

According to USAToday.com, the FDA announcement makes the U.S. the first country to authorize two COVID-19 vaccines that demonstrate a potential to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. The Moderna vaccine is administered as a series of two doses, one month apart. According to the FDA, the most commonly reported side effects, which typically lasted several days, were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, swollen lymph nodes in the same arm as the injection, nausea, and vomiting, and fever. More people experienced these side effects after the second dose than after the first dose.

Because Moderna’s vaccine, unlike Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, does not need extreme-cold storage, states are hoping to provide it to less populated areas, reaching rural hospitals, local health departments, and community health centers. Three places that did not receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau — will receive the Moderna vaccine according to the NewYorkTimes.com.