New Delhi: After Pfizer, now US-based pharma company Moderna has got approval for emergency use of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate. The US regulator, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved the use of the vaccine for citizens who are 18 years and older.

According to media reports, the US government has ordered at least 200 million Moderna and the doses are supposed to arrive by Monday. The company has also said that it expects to have 85-100 million shots available in the US in the first three months of 2021.

Last month Moderna had announced that the late-stage clinical trials results showed that the vaccine was 94.1% effective with no serious safety concerns. The company had also said that the vaccine's efficacy rate was consistent across age, race, ethnicity, and gender demographics as well as having a 100% success rate in preventing severe cases of a disease.

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Moderna's vaccine also becomes the first one which has been approved by the US first. Pfizer's vaccine was first authorised by Britain and Canada. The vaccination drive in the US has begun and in the European Union it will start from December 27, two days after Christmas. But there are concerns about the side effects of the Pfizer vaccine after two healthcare workers who were given the shot faced severe allergic reactions.

It is reported that a middle-aged woman who had no history of allergies, started to witness an anaphylactic reaction after 10 minutes of taking the shot. Similarly, an Alaskan health worker who took Pfizer Inc and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine had a serious allergic reaction. On Friday, US Vice President Mike Pence, Second Lady Karen Pence, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams received the Pfizer vaccine on live TVto instill confidence among people.

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