Covid-19 roundup: EMA rec­om­mends Mod­er­na vac­cine for au­tho­riza­tion; Wood­cock re­turns to FDA as Hahn ad­vi­sor — re­ports

Af­ter de­lay­ing its de­ci­sion ear­li­er this week, the EMA an­nounced it has for­mal­ly rec­om­mend­ed au­tho­riz­ing Mod­er­na’s Covid-19 vac­cine.

Reg­u­la­tors came to the de­ci­sion Wednes­day morn­ing, mark­ing the sec­ond vac­cine giv­en au­tho­riza­tion in Eu­rope fol­low­ing Pfiz­er and BioN­Tech. EMA had pre­vi­ous­ly sched­uled a dead­line for Jan. 12 to reach a de­ci­sion.

The ball will now head to the Eu­ro­pean Com­mis­sion’s court, which has the fi­nal say on any opin­ions giv­en by the EMA and CHMP. Should the body give it the thumbs up — a vir­tu­al cer­tain­ty — the EU would be­come the fourth to OK the vac­cine, fol­low­ing au­tho­riza­tions in the US, Cana­da and Is­rael.

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