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LONDON: Britain secured 2 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 candidate vaccine, which will be available in Europe from spring, the government said on Sunday (November 29), in addition to the 5 million doses it obtained. from the American company. two weeks ago.
The new agreement came a day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Nadhim Zahawi, a junior business minister, as the minister responsible for the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines.
Britain now has access to sufficient doses of Moderna’s candidate vaccine for around 3.5 million people. Overall, it has access to 357 million doses of vaccines from seven developers, according to a government statement.
“With a wide range of candidate vaccines in our portfolio, we are ready to roll out a vaccine should they receive approval from our drug regulator, starting with those who will benefit the most,” Health Minister Matt Hancock said in the statement. .
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Moderna’s experimental vaccine is 94.5 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 based on interim data from a late-stage trial.
Deliveries to Britain could begin as early as spring, if the vaccine meets the standards of the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency.
Britain also ordered 40 million doses of a vaccine developed by BioNTech of Germany and Pfizer of the United States, which has been found to be 95 percent effective in preventing the spread of the new coronavirus.
The UK regulator is set to approve the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine this week, and deliveries will begin within hours of authorization, the Financial Times said on Saturday.
Britain has also secured 100 million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford and has targeted its launch to begin before Christmas.
