7 January 2021

The European Commission has granted the company a conditional marketing authorisation to Moderna for its Covid-19 vaccine candidate. This will accelerate the rollout of Moderna’s vaccine across the European Union. The European Medicines Agency recommended the use of the two dose mRNA Covid-19 vaccine for active immunisation in individuals aged 18 years and older.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund has entered an agreement with Serbia where the former will supply two million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine to fight coronavirus to the country. The Sputnik V vaccination programmes commenced in Serbia on 6 January 2021 after the first doses of Sputnik V arrived on 30 December 2020.

University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers are expected to participate in a Phase III clinical trial of NVX-CoV2373, an investigational Covid-19 vaccine. The trial will test the safety and efficacy of the vaccine candidate that is being developed by Novavax. 

Morocco’s Ministry of Health announced that it has approved the use of the AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine for a year. A Covid-19 advisory committee had met on December 31 in Morocco’s capital Rabat to discuss the authorisation of the vaccine in the country. The committee analysed the vaccine’s safety and efficacy and international data that supports its standards and use and in its preclinical and clinical stage trials.