MANILA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the emergency use authorization for Moderna's vaccine against COVID-19, FDA Director General Enrique Domingo said on Wednesday.

The emergency use authorization was granted by FDA "after rigorous and thorough review by regulatory and medical experts using the currently available published and unpublished data," Domingo said in an online forum.

"The known and potential benefits of Moderna, when used to prevent COVID-19, outweigh the known and potential risks of the said vaccine," Domingo added.

The American drugmaker Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is the seventh vaccine given green light by the FDA.

An emergency authorization allows the use of a vaccine still being developed during public health emergencies.

The Philippines has reported a total of 1,067,892 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, including 17,622 deaths.