Moderna starts application for full U.S. approval of COVID-19 vaccine

Moderna Inc on Tuesday filed for full U.S. approval of its COVID-19 vaccine for adults, the second drugmaker to do so after Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech sought full clearance for their vaccine last month. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's emergency use authorization (EUA) allowed use of the vaccines during the pandemic, based on a minimum number of infections among the trial population and two months of safety data for vaccine recipients. Full approval for the vaccines, based on six months of trial data, could be an important step in allaying vaccine hesitancy in the United States and other nations.