The World Health Organization ( WHO ) granted this Friday its emergency homologation to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, the fifth to receive such approval from the UN health agency.

This vaccine, based on messenger RNA technology, "is added to the growing list of vaccines validated by the WHO for emergency use," the UN agency said in a statement.

Until now, the WHO had approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the two AstraZeneca sera manufactured in India and South Korea, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, called Janssen. A decision is expected to be made shortly for the two Chinese vaccines, Sinopharm and Sinovac.

This procedure helps countries that do not have the means to determine whether a drug is effective and safe can access it more quickly; And it will also allow the Covax system - launched by WHO with other partners to distribute covid-19 vaccines in disadvantaged countries - to contemplate getting more vaccines.

The vaccine developed by Moderna, a pioneering startup in anticovid vaccines, has characteristics similar to that developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, with 94.1% efficacy. This American vaccine has been licensed in the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel and Singapore, among other countries.

On January 21, it was examined by the Strategic Consultative Group of Experts (SAGE) on vaccination, in charge of issuing recommendations on vaccines.

The group recommended that the vaccine be used in all age groups starting at 18 years of age. WHO experts also recommend that Moderna's vaccine be administered in two doses with an interval of 28 days, although they noted that the second injection can be "postponed 42 days" (six weeks) in exceptional circumstances, such as a serious crisis. sanitary or dose shortage.

However, they do not recommend cutting the dose in half.