Gavi to purchase 176.5 million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for low income countries
pharmafile | October 13, 2021 | News story | Research and Development |
COVAX has purchased more than 210 million doses of their vaccine for delivery to low income countries.
This supply agreement with Gavi, on behalf of the COVAX Facility, is part of Moderna’s efforts to make vaccines available to as many people as possible around the world.
COVAX has options to purchase an additional 233 million doses in the second half of 2022. Doses will be provided at the lowest tiered price, to keep with Moderna’s global access commitments. Out of these doses, 116.5 million doses are expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2022 and 60 million doses in the second quarter of 2022.
The 210 million doses purchased by COVAX are 100-µg per dose. Moderna, a biotechnology company pioneering mRNA vaccines, has requested authorisation of a 50 µg dose as a booster from the same vial, significantly increasing the number of usable doses procured by COVAX at no additional cost.
“I would like to thank COVAX for their tireless work to deliver our vaccine to low income countries. We support COVAX’s mission to ensure broad, affordable and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and this agreement is an important pillar of our access strategy,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna.
“We believe our vaccine can play an important role in addressing the needs of low income countries given its combination of high Phase III efficacy against COVID-19, strong durability in the real-world evidence, and superior storage and handling conditions.
“We recognise that access to all vaccines, including ours, continues to be a challenge in many parts of the world which is one of the reasons why we have worked hard to enable a 50-µg booster dose, which will increase the number of usable booster doses available to low income countries at no additional cost.”
Lina Adams
