Moderna, UK Reach Five Million Dose Supply Deal for COVID-19 Vaccine

Moderna has reached a deal with the British government to supply an initial five million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, mRNA-1273, in spring of next year.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that the country has locked in an initial five million vaccine doses from the drugmaker, though he did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. Moderna said it would begin supplying its mRNA-based vaccine to the UK in March 2021 as long as the vaccine obtains approval from the country’s health regulatory agency.

Moderna’s two-dose vaccine looks to be highly effective, according to its late-stage trial’s first interim analysis, which found it to have a 94.5 percent efficacy rate. The vaccine can also be shipped and stored for up to six months at -4 Fahrenheit (F) and stored between 36F and 46F for 30 days, likely making its nationwide and international distribution an easier task.