Trump administration to purchase another 100M doses of Moderna vaccine

The Trump administration announced on Friday that it will purchase another 100 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, according to a release from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  

The vaccine is still pending emergency authorization from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) but approval appears likely. 

The U.S. had previously ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine earlier this year, and those will begin shipping immediately upon FDA authorization, with 20 million expected by the end of December. 

The second batch of 100 million doses purchased by the U.S. will be delivered in the second quarter of next year, according to HHS.

“Securing another 100 million doses from Moderna by June 2021 further expands our supply of doses across the Operation Warp Speed portfolio of vaccines,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said. 

“This new federal purchase can give Americans even greater confidence we will have enough supply to vaccinate all Americans who want it by the second quarter of 2021,” he added. 

The Moderna vaccine was co-developed with scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, run by Anthony Fauci. 

The clinical trial involving 30,000 participants found the vaccine was 94.1 percent effective. 

The additional purchase of the Moderna doses follows an advisory panel’s recommendation that the FDA authorize a similar vaccine from Pfizer. 

The FDA is expected to authorize the Pfizer vaccine in the coming days. 

The FDA’s vaccine advisory panel will soon evaluate whether to make the same recommendation for Moderna.