EU considers approving Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

The European Union's medicines regulator, the European Medicines Agency, is meeting Wednesday to consider giving the green light for Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine to be used across the 27-nation bloc.

The decision would make it the second shot for the EU after the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

The meeting comes amid high rates of infections in many EU countries and criticism of the slow pace of vaccinations across the region of some 450 million inhabitants.

Ahead of the meeting, the agency said its experts were "working hard to clarify all outstanding issues with the company (Moderna)." It did not elaborate on what those issues were. Moderna also declined to comment.

Early results of large, still unfinished studies show both the Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines appear safe and strongly protective although Moderna's is easier to handle since it doesn't need to be stored at ultra-frozen temperatures.

The United States, Canada and Israel are the only countries to have so far allowed use of the Moderna vaccine.

If the EU agency joins the list, its decision will have to be confirmed by the bloc's executive commission in Brussels before vaccinations with the Moderna shot can begin.