Moderna will supply 34 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine this year and Sweden has donated one million AstraZeneca shots to COVAX, as the global program struggles to secure enough supplies to inoculate the world’s poorest people.
COVAX, whose mission is to ensure broad, affordable and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, has only delivered a fraction of the vaccines it had planned to supply by May. The program urgently needs 20 million doses during the second quarter of 2021 to cover interruptions in supply, largely triggered by increased demands for vaccines in India where COVAX’s main supplier of the AstraZeneca product is based.
Under the terms of the Moderna deal, the drugmaker will work with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to provide an initial 34 million doses for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2021, with the option to sell another 466 million doses next year. The vaccines will go to the 92 COVAX Advance Market Commitment low- and middle-income countries.
At the same time, the Swedish government announced it will share 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine with the COVAX initiative. WHO and its partners are strongly advocating for more countries to make contributions.