Moderna deal, Swedish donation boost COVAX vaccine programme

The rollout of 500 million Moderna vaccine doses for the UN-led program for poor nations won’t begin until the fourth quarter of this year.

Moderna will supply 34 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine this year and Sweden has donated one million AstraZeneca shots to the global COVAX programme, which has struggled to secure enough supplies to inoculate the world’s poorest people. The advance purchase agreement between Moderna and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, comes just days after the World Health Organization (WHO) announced emergency approval of the vaccine, The rollout of Moderna vaccines for the United Nations-backed COVAX scheme, which aims to deliver vaccines to lower-income countries at the same time that rich countries have access, is set to begin in the fourth quarter of this year, and the vast majority of the doses in the deal – 466 million – are planned for next year.