A THIRD Covid vaccine is now seeking approval from regulators, as Scotland’s Health Secretary said the country “will be ready” to begin inoculating as soon as supplies arrive.
Moderna has filed for emergency regulatory approval in the US and Europe so it can be recommended for widespread use.
Clinical trials of 30,000 volunteers, including elderly participants, indicate the jag is 94 per cent effective at protecting people from becoming ill from Covid-19 infections, but it is up to regulators to decide whether the evidence of safety and efficacy is robust.
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is already evaluating Covid vaccine applications from Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca, and Moderna says it hopes to be granted approval for use in the UK soon.
It is up to the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to draw up priority guidelines, but care home residents, care home staff and frontline NHS workers are expected to be first in line, alongside over-80s.
