Gavi signs agreement with Moderna to secure doses on behalf of COVAX Facility

The signed advance purchase agreement (APA) is for up to 500 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Moderna
Supply via the agreement will take place from the second half of 2021 through 2022, with options in place to address the risks of variants
Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi: “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.”
Announcement comes as Sweden releases plan to donate 1 million doses of AZ/Oxford vaccine to help COVAX urgently address immediate-term supply delays

Geneva, 3 May 2021 – Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance announced today that it had signed an advance purchase agreement with Moderna for its mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 (COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna). The agreement is for 500 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, secured on behalf of the COVAX Facility. Initial supply under the agreement is for AMC-eligible participants, with the potential to allocate and supply to self-financing participants in the future.

“We are very pleased to sign this new agreement with Moderna, giving COVAX Facility participants access to yet another highly efficacious vaccine,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi. “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.”

The Moderna vaccine has recently received WHO Emergency Use Listing, making it eligible to be supplied to COVAX Facility participants. Supply via this APA is expected to commence in Q4 2021, with a total of 34 million doses available in 2021 and up to 466 million doses in 2022. The agreement also contains options to potentially access doses of variant-adapted vaccine in the future.

Moderna’s vaccine is part of the COVAX R&D portfolio. In January 2020, COVAX co-lead CEPI provided initial investment in Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine programme to support production of the first clinical trial materials.

“CEPI’s early investment in Moderna’s vaccine development programme helped to get the project off the ground, so I’m proud that the vaccine will be made available to protect people in countries around the world through COVAX,” said CEPI CEO Dr Richard Hatchett. “This highly effective vaccine is already saving lives, and will play a vital role in the global control of COVID-19.”

“I am grateful to our COVAX partners for their tireless work and to the entire Moderna team for their collaboration to reach this agreement. 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. “We recognize 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.”

Following on from the negotiation and signing of the APA between Gavi and Moderna, which secures these doses for the participants of the COVAX Facility, a long-term agreement will be signed between UNICEF and Moderna to enable to the logistics of procurement and delivery of these doses to Gavi COVAX AMC participants.

The announcement comes alongside news that Sweden plans to donate 1 million fully paid doses of the AstraZeneca(AZ)/Oxford vaccine to COVAX, responding to the call for countries to share doses urgently with COVAX to help address immediate-term supply delays. Doses shared in the short-term will help ensure AMC participants can administer second doses of the AZ/Oxford vaccine to high risk groups such as health care workers.

Notes to editors

More information on COVAX is available here.

About COVAX

COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by CEPI, Gavi and WHO – working in partnership with UNICEF and PAHO as delivery partners, developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers, the World Bank, and others. It is the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both high-income and lower-income countries.

About Gavi’s role in COVAX

Gavi is leading on procurement and delivery at scale for COVAX: coordinating the design, implementation and administration of the COVAX Facility and the COVAX AMC and working with its Alliance partners UNICEF and WHO, along with governments, on country readiness and delivery.

As part of this role, Gavi hosts the Office of the COVAX Facility to coordinate the operation and governance of the mechanism as a whole, manages relationships with Facility participants, and negotiates advance purchase agreements with manufacturers of promising vaccine candidates to secure doses on behalf of the 190 economies participating in the COVAX Facility.

It also coordinates design, operation and fundraising for the COVAX AMC that supports 92 lower-income economies, including a no-fault compensation mechanism that will be administered by WHO. As part of this work, Gavi supports governments and partners on ensuring country readiness, providing funding and oversight of UNICEF procurement of vaccines as well as partners’ and governments work on readiness and delivery. This includes support for cold chain equipment, technical assistance, syringes, vehicles, and other aspects of the vastly complex logistical operation for delivery.

About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 822 million children – and prevented more than 14 million deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 developing countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation and reaching the unvaccinated children still being left behind, employing innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organizations that fund Gavi’s work here.

Media Contacts

Meghana Sharafudeen
+41 79 711 5554
msharafudeen@gavi.org

Iryna Mazur
+41 79 429 3671
imazur@gavi.org

Evan O’Connell
+33 6 17 57 21 26
eoconnell@gavi.org

Laura Shevlin
+ 41 79 529 92 87
lshevlin@gavi.org

Cirũ Kariũki
ckariuki@gavi.org