A THIRD vaccine produced in the US will be rolled out to Brits today – weeks ahead of schedule.
The Moderna vaccine will first be rolled out in West Wales after ministers this week said it wouldn't be available until the end of the month.
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Yesterday vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi said the vaccine would be given out alongside the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab and the Pfizer/BioNTech offering to bolster Britain's jab capabilities.
Ministers have warned that April will see a slow down of the inoculation against the dead virus, but the 500,000 batch of Moderna will help keep the numbers ticking over until more stocks of AstraZeneca and Pfizer arrive.
After trials on more than 30,000 people showed the Moderna vaccine to be 94 percent effective against Covid-19.
Britain has secured 17 million doses, which were given the green-light buy medicines regulator the MHRA back in January.
Where is the Moderna vaccine made?
Biotech company Moderna was founded in 2010 and was formerly named ModeRNA Therapeutics.
The company is part of the US government's Operation Warp Speed programme and is owned by shareholders.
Noubar Afeyan is co-founder and chairman of Moderna.
Moderna is using a relatively new facility in Norwood, Massachusetts to make the vaccine.
What other medicines and vaccines does Moderna produce?
Moderna's medicines include development candidates for mRNA-based vaccines and therapies spanning several therapeutic areas.
It uses mRNA to spur the body to produce its own therapeutic proteins.
Moderna calls mRNA “the software of life”.
How effective is the Moderna Covid vaccine?
The Moderna vaccine was hailed as "tremendously exciting" when the US pharmaceutical company posted its phase three clinical trial results in November.
Its trial involved more than 30,000 people, half of whom received the vaccine and the other half received a placebo.
The vaccine demonstrated a 94.1 per cent efficacy in the trial and 90.9 per cent efficacy in participants at risk of severe Covid-19.
"We are going to have a vaccine that can stop Covid-19," Moderna President Stephen Hoge said in a telephone interview.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "I’m delighted we can start the UK rollout of the Moderna vaccine in west Wales today.
“The UK government has secured vaccines on behalf of the entire nation and the vaccination programme has shown our country working together at its best."
When did the Moderna vaccine get UK approval and when will it be available in Britain?
The Moderna vaccine was given UK approval in January.
It was then reported how supplies of the vaccine would not be available for NHS use until the spring after Moderna expanded its production capability,
That's because it's being manufactured in the States first and will take a few months before facilities in Europe are ready to distribute, the Department of Health said.
Mr Zahawi yesterday hinted that doses would not be available until the end of April, but it was this morning revealed that the jab would be rolled out today.
Seven million doses of the US-based company's vaccine had already been ordered but the Government announced in January that an additional 10 million have been purchased.
The jab is the third to be given the green light by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), along with the Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca.
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