US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense (DoD) have secured an additional 100 million doses of COVID-19 mRNA-1273 vaccine candidate from Moderna. In an official statement, the US Health and Human Services announced that the Trump administration doubled the order of the total vaccine shots it initially committed to purchasing from the pharmaceutical company Moderna Inc. in an order worth $1.65 billion.
The investigative vaccines will be delivered in the second quarter of 2021 to the US, the Cambridge-based vaccine manufacturer announced in an update. The development comes a day after the New York-based Pfizer Inc. and BioNtech gained emergency US authorisation for its vaccine, the company announced in an agency statement.
According to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) statement, the Modern vaccines will be subject to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorisation, following which the company will dispatch the shipment immediately. Once delivered, the vaccine will be provided to the citizens at no cost and the expenses for the private-sector administration partners will be covered by healthcare payers: private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, and an HHS program to cover COVID-19 costs for the uninsured, the US HHS informed.
