Biotech company Moderna's coronavirus vaccine has become the second vaccine to receive emergency-use approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is welcome news in a country where more than 307.000 lives have been lost to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Last night, the FDA gave the green light for the use of the vaccine a day after the agency's advisory board - a panel of outside experts - supported its use, Voice of America reports.
This is the first regulatory approval for Moderna's vaccine and a validation of the value of its RNA technology.
The vaccine was made less than a year after the first case of Covid-19 was identified in the US.
The biotech company is working with the US government to prepare for the distribution of 5,9 million doses of the vaccine, which could begin as early as this weekend.
The FDA's decision is based on the results of a study in which 30.000 volunteers participated, and found that it is effective in preventing Covid-95 in almost 19% of cases, without serious concerns for the safety of the vaccinated.
A similar vaccine, developed by the company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTek, was previously given emergency FDA approval, which began to be administered in the US on Monday, and was given to thousands of American health workers across the country.
Moderna's vaccine is expected to be used in less accessible locations such as rural hospitals.
It must be stored and transported frozen, but it does not require such low temperatures as Pfizer's vaccine, the Voice of America reports.
Once thawed, Moderna's vaccine can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures.
Like Pfizer's vaccine, it is given in two doses, 28 days apart.
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