Moderna to Supply Additional Vaccine Doses for Low Income Countries, Build Plant in Africa

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has exercised its option to purchase an additional 176.5 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for the COVAX Facility. Of these additional doses, 116.5 million doses are expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2022 and 60 million doses are expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2022. All doses are offered at Moderna’s lowest tiered price, in line with the company’s global access commitments. COVAX retains the option to purchase 116.5 million doses for delivery in the third quarter of 2022 and an additional 116.5 million doses for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2022. These doses are in addition to the 34 million doses purchased for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2021.

This supply agreement with Gavi is an important pillar of Moderna’s comprehensive plan to bring vaccines to as many people as possible around the world. Moderna also recently announced an investment of up to $500 million to build a state-of-the-art mRNA facility in Africa with the goal of producing up to 500 million doses of vaccines each year at the 50 µg dose level.

The 210 million doses purchased to date by COVAX are 100 µg per dose. Moderna has requested authorization of a 50 µg dose as a booster from the same vial which would significantly increase the number of usable doses procured by COVAX at no additional cost. The average purchase price across all doses purchased to date is just under $10 per 100 µg dose, equating to less than $5 per 50 µg dose.

“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 3 efficacy against COVID-19, strong durability in the real-world evidence, and superior storage and handling conditions. We recognize 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.” (Source: Moderna Website, 12 October, 2021)