(Adds detail, background, reaction)
LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Britain's medical regulator on
Friday approved Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for use, the
health ministry said, adding that it had agreed to purchase an
additional 10 million doses of the shot as it eyed a spring
rollout of the shot.
Three COVID-19 vaccines have now been approved for use in
Britain, with Pfizer//BioNTech's shot and one
developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca already
being rolled out.
The Moderna shot is not expected to play a part in the first
stage of Britain's vaccine rollout. Britain now has 17 million
doses of Moderna's vaccine on order, and supplies will begin to
be delivered to the UK from the spring once Moderna expands its
production capability.
"We have already vaccinated nearly 1.5 million people across
the UK and Moderna's vaccine will allow us to accelerate our
vaccination programme even further once doses become available
from the spring," health minister Matt Hancock said.
Britain was the first to approve Pfizer's and AstraZeneca's
vaccines as it bids to ramp up its vaccine rollout quickly but
is behind some other major countries in giving the go-ahead to
the Moderna shot.
Moderna's vaccine was 94% effective in preventing disease in
late-stage clinical trials, and it has already been given
regulatory approval for use in the United States, Canada, the
European Union and Israel.
Britain is attempting to vaccinate the elderly, the
vulnerable and frontline workers - around 15 million people - by
mid-February, to ease a new strict lockdown imposed after a
spike in cases to daily records.
Although Moderna's vaccine will not help meet that target,
it will help ease supply constraints that Hancock has cited as
being a limiting factor in the rollout.
"This is excellent news and a further crumb of comfort amid
the huge levels of COVID-19 currently circulating around the
UK," said Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health
at the University of Southampton.
"When these Moderna vaccines arrive, they will help to ease
any bottlenecks or delays in the administration programme."
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and
Louise Heavens)