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A vaccine that uses the same method as the Pfizer product to prevent people from falling seriously ill from Covid-19 is one step closer to being approved for use in Australia.
United States medical firm Moderna has been granted provisional determination for its coronavirus vaccine Elasomeran, the Therapeutic Goods Administration said on Thursday.
Provisional determination means Moderna can apply for provisional registration for the vaccine in a medicine register kept by Australian authorities.
In other words, the vaccine has cleared an important hurdle on its way to approval.
“It is anticipated that Moderna will submit an application for provisional registration shortly,†the TGA said in a statement.
“Importantly, registration and supply in Australia will only commence should the vaccine be approved as safe and effective by the TGA.â€
Australia has already ordered 25 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, with 10 million to be supplied this year and the rest next year.
The doses that are expected to be ready by 2022 will be booster shots updated to be able to handle emerging variants of the virus.
Both Moderna and Pfizer use a cutting edge science known as mRNA in their coronavirus vaccines.
The “m†in the acronym stands for messenger and RNA is ribonucleic acid, which is present in human cells.
The vaccines use the “messenger’s†information to teach cells how to make spike protein, which is then recognised by the body as foreign, prompting it to build an immune response.
That response then comes in handy if the vaccine recipient is infected with coronavirus because the body already knows how to protect against it.
The Moderna vaccine will be considered for use in individuals aged over 12, the TGA said.
It is currently in use in several other countries.
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