Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Friday approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in the kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Moderna is the fourth COVID-19 vaccine that has been authorised for use in the Kingdom. AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson’s are the other vaccines that have been approved for use in the Kingdom.
As per the agency, after this approval, the authorities will begin the procedures for importing the two-dose vaccine and the authority will analyze samples from each incoming shipment of the vaccine before using it to ensure its quality.
The decision to approve the registration and use of the Moderna vaccine was made based on the data provided by the company, SPA stated.
The Food and Drug Authority held several meetings to study the submitted data with local and international experts and specialists.
So far, 19.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom on Friday announced 14 deaths from COVID-19 and 1,133 new infections.