WHO approves Modern COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use | Coronavirus pandemic News

Acceptance occurs as cases around the world increase, and puts pressure on governments to accelerate vaccination programs.

The World Health Organization has listed the modern COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, the agency said on Friday, the fifth time it has been targeted by countries to speed up gun acceptance.

“The goal is to make emergency medicines, vaccines and diagnoses available as soon as possible,” the WHO said in a statement.

WHO Director-General Mariangela Simao said on Friday that it was important to have more vaccines available because of supply problems for other shots, including India, which is the main source of vaccines for the global COVAX vaccine sharing program.

India has restricted exports due to the crisis of domestic infections that has exacerbated the country’s health system.

Modern announced this week an expansion plan for its production network in 2022 to increase its capacity to three billion doses.

The WHO Strategic Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) in January had already recommended the Modern vaccine for all age groups over 18 years of age.

The launch of Pfizer and its German partner BionTech, an mRNA vaccine like Moderna, was the first vaccine to reach the WHO emergency use list in the last hours of 2020.

Since then, the WHO has added AstraZeneca-SK Bio, India’s Serum Institute and Johnson & Johnson vaccines to the list.

The UN health agency is studying COVID-19 vaccines, developed by Chinese manufacturers Sinopharm and Sinovac, after a lengthy review, and decisions will be made by the end of next week.