EU takes up option to buy 150 million more Moderna COVID-19 vaccines

Brussels: The European Union has decided to take up an option under a supply contract with drugmaker Moderna that allows the bloc to order 150 million additional COVID-19 vaccines produced by the U.S. biotech firm, the EU Commission said on Tuesday.

The announcement comes a week after CureVac, a German biotech firm, said its COVID-19 vaccine was only 47% effective in a late-stage trial, missing the study's main goal and casting doubt on the potential delivery of hundreds of millions of doses to the EU. The additional Moderna doses will be delivered next year, the EU executive said in a statement. The shots are part of a contract for 300 million doses, approved in February, of which half has already been ordered by the 27-nation bloc.