President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the US government will buy 100 million doses of Moderna’s experimental coronavirus vaccine, which is currently in late-stage human trials.
“We have reached an agreement with Moderna to manufacture and deliver 100 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine candidate,” Trump said.
“The federal government will own these vaccine doses, we’re buying them.”
US biotechnology firm Moderna Therapeutics is in phase 3 trials of its vaccine candidate.
The US government is also entering into a partnership with Johnson & Johnson and several other US companies to support the large-scale manufacturing of their vaccines, Trump said.
The announcement comes the same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Moscow had registered its own vaccine against Covid-19.
Vaccines can take years to develop and test but many countries have accelerated efforts in a bid to slow the coronavirus pandemic.
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The speed of the Russian vaccine’s regulatory approval drew scepticism. Russia has also not shared data from large-scale clinical trials.
White House adviser Kellyanne Conway cast doubt on the Russian vaccine’s safety, arguing that the country does not seem to have carried out the necessary amount of testing.
