EFE.- The health authorities of Finland announced this morning that they will suspend the vaccination of men under 30 years of age with Moderna’s anticovid vaccine due to the risk of cardiac inflammation, thus adding to the decision adopted the day before by Sweden and Denmark.
The director of the Finnish National Institute of Health and Welfare (THL), Mika Salminen, said at a press conference that the drug from Moderna has a slightly higher risk than other vaccines of developing myocarditis, according to a recent study carried out in the Nordic countries.
“Most of these myocarditis are mild and transient and heal on their own after a few days of follow-up, but there is nevertheless a risk,” said Salminen, who noted that this is higher in young men after receiving the second dose.
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According to Salminen, the results of the study in Finland are similar to those of the rest of the Nordic countries, although there have been fewer cases of myocarditis in Finland than in Norway.
The Finnish Medicines Agency (Fimea) reported that six cases of cardiac inflammation have been detected to date in Finland, where around one million vaccines from the American firm Moderna have been administered.
Sweden was the first Nordic country to announce the suspension of Moderna’s vaccine until December 1 for those under 30 years of age given the “very small” risk of suffering myocarditis and pericarditis, according to the data from the aforementioned study.
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“We are monitoring the situation and acting quickly so that the vaccines are as safe as possible and provide effective protection against Covid-19,” the chief epidemiologist of the Swedish Public Health Agency, Anders Tegnell, said in a statement.
The Danish General Directorate of Health appealed to “precaution” to suspend the use of Moderna in those under 18 years of age, although it stressed that no cases have been detected in that country.
“In Denmark, up to now, young people aged 12 to 17 have been invited to receive the Pfizer vaccine. As a precautionary principle, from now on we will only supply you with this preparation“, Stated in a statement.
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Norway already used only the Pfizer vaccine for all minors, but from now on it will extend the recommendation to all those under 30 years of age.
The Provisional data from the study by the Nordic health authorities have been sent to the European Medicines Agency to be studied.
Denmark was already the first country to suspend the AstraZeneza vaccine from its official vaccination program, and later that of Johnson & Johnson, which could however be received on a voluntary basis, while Norway subsequently adopted a similar measure.
Moderna to build plant in Africa
On the other hand, the American pharmaceutical company Moderna announced this morning that it plans to build a plant on the African continent with the goal of producing 500 million vaccines a year, an investment valued at 500 million dollars.
For the moment, not even the country that will host the plant has yet been chosen, and Moderna said in a statement that “the process to choose the country and the place will soon begin.”
The factory will be “state of the art”, which would be the first of its kind on the African continent, It will include the manufacturing processes of products, packaging and packaging of its RNA-type vaccines.
It is not a factory specifically dedicated to the fight against Covid-19, although the company hopes that the plant can also produce them: “We hope to manufacture our Covid-19 vaccine at this plant as well as other products based on our RNA system,” said Stephane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO.
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