Europe to donate 70 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine

Moderna has announced an agreement that enables the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries to donate doses of Spikevax, previously COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna, that they have purchased under the EU Vaccines Strategy to COVAX on an ongoing basis for delivery in 2021.

The initiative, led by France, Sweden, and Norway is expected to enable the donation of more than 70 million doses of Moderna vaccine in 2021, including an initial donation of 15 million doses by France and 40 million doses by Germany.

According to Moderna, this agreement provides that donations of their messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine by EU and EEA countries to COVAX will be directed to the 92 Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) low- and middle-income countries. COVAX is a global initiative co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO), to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income levels.

“I would like to thank the governments of France, Sweden and Norway, the EU and EEA countries and Gavi for this agreement to facilitate the donation of doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the EU Member States to COVAX to help end the pandemic in low-income countries,” commented Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. “We believe that dose sharing, among other strategies, will help ensure an equitable global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

“We remain focused on implementing a comprehensive and always evolving strategy to ensure that low-income countries get access to our vaccine as we seek to help end the pandemic around the world,” he added.