Moderna, a US biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines announced on May 3 an agreement with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to supply up to 500 million doses of its Covid-19 Vaccine. The supply includes an initial 34 million doses to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2021, indicates a press statement issued by the company. Through this agreement, on behalf of the COVAX Facility, it said, Gavi also retains the option to procure 466 million additional doses in 2022. The biotechnology firm said that all doses are offered at its lowest tiered price, in line with the Company’s global access commitments. The agreement covers the 92 Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) low- and middle-income countries. The Company is in discussions to allocate and supply to self-financing participants in the future. 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. Its Covid-19 vaccine – mRNA-1273 – was co-developed by Moderna and investigators from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease’s (NIAID) Vaccine Research Cente. According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), based on evidence from clinical trials, the Moderna vaccine was 94.1 per cent effective at preventing laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 illness in people who received two doses and had no evidence of being previously infected. CDC said that the vaccine appeared to have high effectiveness in clinical trials (efficacy) among people of diverse age, sex, race, and ethnicity categories and among persons with underlying medical conditions. Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine received the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL) to prevent Covid-19 in individuals 18 years of age and older, on April 30. It adds to other Covid-19 vaccines that have been validated for emergency use by the WHO, including that developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson (Janssen vaccine). WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL) assesses the quality, safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines and is a prerequisite for COVAX Facility vaccine supply. It also allows countries to expedite their own regulatory approval to import and administer Covid-19 vaccines. “This is an important milestone as we work to ensure that people around the world have access to our Covid-19 vaccine,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna while talking about the agreement. “We recognise that many countries have limited resources to access Covid-19 vaccines. We support COVAX’s mission to ensure broad, affordable and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines and we remain committed to doing everything that we can to ending this ongoing pandemic with our mRNA Covid-19 vaccine,” he observed. Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi said that the new agreement with Moderna will give COVAX Facility participants access to yet another highly efficacious vaccine. “Expanding and having a diverse portfolio has always been a core goal for COVAX, and to remain adaptable in the face of this continually evolving pandemic – including the rising threat posed by new variants. This agreement is a further step in that direction,” he said. Possible side effects CDC said that in the arm where you got the Moderna shot, you should expect pain, redness, and swelling as the vaccine side effects; while throughout the rest of your body, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever and nausea are the possible side effects. These side effects usually start within a day or two of getting the vaccine. Side effects might affect your ability to do daily activities, but they should go away in a few days.
