Covid vaccines – Photo © European Union 2022
(BRUSSELS) – The European Commission and Moderna reached an agreement Tuesday to better address the needs of EU Member States for COVID-19 vaccines for the late summer and winter period.
The agreement is intended to ensure national authorities have access to the vaccines, including variant-adapted vaccines if authorised, at the time they need them for their own vaccination campaigns and to support their global partners.
“Increasing COVID-19 vaccination and booster rates will be crucial as we plan ahead for the autumn and winter months,” said Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides: ” To best ensure our common preparedness, Member States must have the necessary tools. This includes vaccines adapted to variants, as and when they are authorised by the European Medicines Agency.”
The agreement will adapt the originally agreed contractual delivery schedules. Doses originally scheduled for delivery in the summer will now be delivered in September and during the autumn and winter period 2022, when Member States will more likely need additional stocks of vaccines for national campaigns and meeting their international solidarity commitments.
The agreement also ensures that, if one or more adapted vaccines receive marketing authorisation, Member States may choose to receive those adapted vaccines under the current contract.
In this context, at the request of some Member States, the agreement also secures additional 15 million doses of Omicron-containing vaccine booster candidates from Moderna, subject to marketing authorisation within timelines that would allow the use of these doses for their vaccination campaigns.
