UK Receives 2 Million Additional Doses Of COVID-19 Vaccine From Moderna

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JAKARTA - The UK government says the country has secured two million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate Moderna Inc, which will be available in Europe in early spring, in addition to the 5 million doses secured from the US company two weeks ago.

The new deal comes one day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Nadhim Zahawi, a junior business minister, to be the minister in charge of the spread of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The UK now has access to a vaccine candidate Moderna in a dosage sufficient for about 3.5 million people. In all, they have access to 357 million doses of vaccine from seven developers, according to a government statement.

"With a wide range of vaccine candidates in our portfolio, we are ready to deploy the vaccine if it gets approval from our drug regulators, starting with those who will benefit the most," health minister Matt Hancock said in a statement.

Moderna's experimental vaccine was 94.5 percent effective in preventing COVID-19, based on preliminary data from the final stage trial.

Deliveries to the UK could begin as early as spring, if the vaccine meets Health and Medicinal Products Regulatory Standards.

The UK has also ordered 40 million doses of a vaccine developed by Germany's BioNTech SE and Pfizer from the United States, which has proven to be 95% effective in preventing the spread of the new coronavirus.

UK regulators are scheduled to approve the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine this week, and deliveries will begin within hours of authorization, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

The UK has also secured 100 million doses of a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca PLC and the University of Oxford and is targeting launches to begin before Christmas.