Moderna: 30.4M COVID-19 vaccines supplied to US

ANKARA

Moderna announced Tuesday that it has supplied 30.4 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine to the US government.

The US pharmaceutical company said it is on track to deliver 100 million doses by the end of the first quarter with 200 million doses available by the end of the second quarter.

As part of former President Donald Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed, the US agreed to purchase 200 million doses of Moderna's vaccine with options for an additional purchase of 300 million doses.

The vaccine received emergency use authorization Dec. 18 from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the company began supplying its first batch shortly afterward.

Moderna announced Jan. 4 it would increase its global vaccine production from 500 to 600 million doses in 2021, as it continues to invest and add personnel to build up to potentially 1 billion doses for the year.

It said Monday its vaccine appears to work against the strain found in the UK, however, it could be less effective against the strain in South Africa.

For another variant in South Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that that variant does not alter the effectiveness of Moderna's vaccine.

The company’s vaccine is safe and effective in people with known medical conditions associated with "increased risk of severe disease, such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma, pulmonary, liver or kidney disease, as well as chronic infections that are stable and controlled," WHO said in a statement.

It also recommended the use of Moderna's vaccine at a schedule of two doses 28 days apart, adding that the interval between doses may be extended to 42 days, if necessary.

While another COVID-19 vaccine developed by American pharmaceutical firm, Pfizer, and its German partner, BioNTech, is being distributed in the US, Johnson & Johnson is expected to report its trial results early next week.

The medical company's Chief Financial Officer Joseph Wolk told CNBC its phase 3 trial was "a very robust 45,000-person study" spanning eight countries on three different continents.

Wolk said some new strains of the virus found in South Africa and Brazil were "potentially captured" in their study.