The Moderna vaccine has already been injected in the United States, such as here in Utah.

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Rick Bowmer / AP / SIPA

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) resumes its evaluation of the Moderna vaccine against Covid-19 on Wednesday, under pressure from European Union countries facing an upsurge in contamination and slowness in vaccinations.

The EMA authorized the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine on December 21, for which the European Commission immediately gave the green light and which remains to this day the only vaccine authorized in Europe.

It must now decide on that of Moderna, an American biotechnology company headed by the French Stéphane Bancel.

“The EMA's discussions” on this vaccine “will continue on Wednesday,” the Amsterdam-based European regulator said Monday evening.

The Agency had brought forward the meeting of its Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), initially scheduled for January 12.

This vaccine has already received, on December 18, emergency authorization from the United States Medicines Agency (FDA), a week after doing the same with that of Pfizer-BioNTech.

Canada followed the United States on December 23.

Moderna vaccine easier to store

The future American Vice-President Kamala Harris received the first of two doses of the Moderna vaccine at the end of December, calling on all Americans to also be vaccinated.

Moderna's formula has the advantage of being able to be stored at -20 ° C, and not -70 ° C like that of Pfizer, which has forced the group to develop specific containers for transport.

The two vaccines show similar efficacy rates, according to their laboratories, of 95% and 94.1% respectively for Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna.

Despite vaccinations launched on December 27 in several European countries with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, these campaigns are advancing more slowly than in the United States, Great Britain or Israel.

"It is obvious that such a complex effort always encounters difficulties", recently admitted a spokesperson for the European Commission.

In Europe, the Netherlands are starting their vaccination campaign this Wednesday, two days earlier than expected, the last country to launch there.

Belgium, on Tuesday, officially began its vaccination campaign in retirement homes, after a test phase which concerned 700 people last week.

The European Medicines Agency finds itself under pressure from the governments and public opinion of the Old Continent.

The surge in infections has led some countries to extend restrictions, such as Germany and Denmark, and vaccination campaigns have sometimes sparked growing controversy, as in France.

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