Philippines to get 13 million doses of US COVID vaccine Moderna

US biotechnology company Moderna Inc. announced a supply agreement  with the Government of The Philippines to provide 13 million doses of COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna to the Philippines. Moderna is pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines. Under the terms of this agreement, deliveries would begin in mid-2021. The COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna is not currently approved for use in the Philippines, and the Company will work with regulators to pursue necessary approvals prior to distribution.

A separate agreement with the Philippines Government and private sector for the supply of an additional 7 million doses is also anticipated. The COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna (referred to in the U.S. as the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine) is an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 encoding for a pre-fusion stabilized form of the Spike (S) protein, which was co-developed by Moderna and investigators from NIAID’s Vaccine Research Center. 

Meanwhile the COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna has been granted temporary approval by Swissmedic, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, based upon the recommendation of the Human Medicines Expert Committee (HMEC), which authorizes the COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna for active immunization to prevent COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus in individuals 18 years of age and older.