Donald Trump says Moderna’s vaccine approved; US FDA denies claim

Donald Trump in a tweet on Friday said Moderna Inc’s vaccine had been approved and would ship immediately, although the US Food and Drug Administration has made no public announcement yet regarding its decision.

A panel of outside FDA advisers met to discuss Moderna’s vaccine on Thursday and an agency decision was expected as soon as within a few hours, at the time of going to press.

“Moderna vaccine overwhelmingly approved. Distribution to start immediately,” Trump said in a post on Twitter.

The Thursday panel of outside FDA advisers had endorsed its use with a 20-0 vote, and one abstention, that the vaccine’s benefits outweighed its risks. Bloomberg News reported that the FDA has said there has not been an emergency authorisation yet of Moderna’s vaccine.

Pence says Moderna’s vaccine could be approved ‘within hours’

At the time of the story going to press, US Vice-President Mike Pence said the US approval for Moderna Inc’s coronavirus vaccine could come within hours later, after President Donald Trump tweeted that the vaccine had been approved.

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The US Food and Drug Administration has made no public announcement yet regarding its decision, and redirected Reuters to its statement from Thursday that the agency was working to rapidly authorize the vaccine.

States say they’re getting less vaccine than expected

Some US states say the federal government has cut their allocations of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE Covid-19 vaccine for next week without explanation. Oregon’s allotment of Pfizer doses for next week was cut by 40 per cent, Governor Kate Brown said in a tweet Thursday evening.

COVAX doubles global vaccine supply deals

The COVAX alliance, which aims to secure fair access to Covid-19 vaccines for poor countries, said it now had agreements in place for nearly 2 billion doses, roughly doubling its supply, with the first deliveries due in early 2021. The initiative, co-led by the GAVI vaccine alliance, the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, said it aimed to deliver 1.3 billion doses of approved vaccines next year to 92 eligible low- and middle-income economies. Reuters

EU buys 80 mn more doses of Moderna shot

Moderna said the European Commission had exercised its option to purchase an additional 80 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine. The total to date is now 160 million doses. Reuters

China plans to vaccinate 50 mn by early Feb

China has kickstarted an effort to inoculate 50 million people against Covid-19 ahead of the Lunar New Year, using local shots that are moving closer to getting regulatory approval. Bloomberg

Moderna ditches 400,000 vaccine doses

Moderna had to discard 400,000 doses of its experimental Covid shot after a filtration issue compromised the product during the final stages of manufacturing, a US official said Thursday. Bloomberg