U.S. To Buy 100 Million Doses Of Moderna Coronavirus Vaccine

TOPLINE

President Donald Trump said Tuesday the U.S. government will purchase 100 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine candidate from biotech company Moderna that is currently undergoing clinical trials.

KEY FACTS

Crucial quote

“For Operation Warp Speed, we are assembling a broad portfolio of vaccines to increase the odds that we will have at least one safe, effective vaccine as soon as the end of this year,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar.

Key background

The deal is part of Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership launched by the federal government to develop and deliver vaccines as fast as possible. The idea behind buying initial batches of vaccines that have yet to be approved by the FDA is that the military will be ready to distribute doses as soon as one candidate is given the go-ahead. There are eight vaccines undergoing phase three trials, according to the New York Times, including a partnership between German company BioNTech and Pfizer as well as a vaccine developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

What’s next

Even though a vaccine might be proven safe and effective by early next year, Dr. Anthony Fauci said last month he doesn’t anticipate widespread availability with hundreds of millions of doses until “several months in” to 2021.

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