Airmen in Germany were given their first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Monday, just over two weeks after it received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – Airmen in Germany were given their first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Monday, just over two weeks after it received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. “I’m hopeful that this is the way to finally end COVID-19,” said Chief Master Sgt. Alex Angulo, the security forces manager for the 569th U.S. Forces Police Squadron, one of the first in line to get the jab in the gym at Ramstein Air Base. He said he got the shot “for my parents, my kids and the community,” and to set an example for his airmen – some of whom have expressed concern about the shot. Like the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the U.S.-made Moderna vaccine was developed in months rather than years and was granted emergency use authorization, not full FDA approval. EUA is issued during emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic, when the FDA deems that a treatment or test will benefit patients, even if all the evidence establishing its effectiveness and safety is not yet available. Regulators, vaccine developers and the military moved extremely quickly to get the Moderna vaccine “from emergency use authorization to putting needles into arms,” said Gino Mattorano, spokesman for Regional Health Command Europe. The Moderna vaccine was granted EUA on Dec.18, the FDA says on its website. The first doses arrived in theater around Christmas Day, and troops began to be inoculated less than a week after that, Mattorano said.
