The last phase of modern vaccine testing advances 1:28
(CNN) - The Trump administration has reached an agreement with Moderna Inc. to manufacture and deliver 100 million doses of the company's covid-19 vaccine once it is approved, according to a press release from the Department of Health. and Human Services.
President Donald Trump announced the agreement during a press conference on Tuesday.
Moderna is one of several companies that make the vaccine "at risk," as the industry calls it, meaning that the company currently makes the vaccine before it is approved. Clinical trials are currently underway to test whether it is safe and effective.
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Under this contract, the vaccines would be owned by the US Government and would be distributed and used as part of its vaccination campaign against COVID-19. If the doses are used, they would be provided to Americans at no cost. The government can also purchase up to 400 million additional doses of this vaccine.
The vaccine, called mRNA-1273, was developed by Moderna in collaboration with the United States government. It was supported by development assistance from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the US Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Authority (BARDA) supported advanced stage clinical trials and helped scale up the making. Moderna's advanced-stage clinical trial, which began July 27, is the first government-funded phase 3 clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine in the United States.
This contract is part of the US Government's Operation Warp Speed , the strong and rapid federal push to bring vaccines and therapies to market safely as soon as possible. The Health Department said the goal is to provide effective vaccines to Americans by the end of the year.
The government also reached an agreement with Pfizer in July to produce 100 million doses of its vaccine. In August, it agreed to a similar 100 million dose deal with Janssen, the vaccine arm of Johnson & Johnson. It has other agreements with GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi Pasteur, Novavax and AstraZeneca.
There are 28 covid-19 vaccines in human trials, according to the World Health Organization.
Why is Mexico ideal for covid-19 vaccine testing? 2:21"By creating a portfolio of vaccines for Operation Warp Speed, the Trump Administration is increasing the likelihood that the United States will have at least one safe and effective vaccine by 2021," Health Secretary Alex Azar said in the press release. , on Tuesday. “Today's investment represents the next step in supporting this vaccine candidate from early development by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health, through clinical trials and now large-scale manufacturing, with the potential to generate hundreds of millions of safe and effective doses for the American people.
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