UK secures total of 357 million doses of various COVID-19 vaccines

The UK government has announced that it has secured an additional two million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine candidate, bringing the country’s access to a total of 357 million doses of vaccines from seven different developers.

According to the government, the UK has now secured seven million doses of the Moderna vaccine, which should be enough to administer the vaccine to around 3.5 million people. The government says that if the vaccine is approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), it could be delivered to the UK as early as spring 2021 – the same timetable as other countries in Europe.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “Every week, we are getting more positive news about the range of vaccines in development and thanks to the work of our taskforce the UK has pre-ordered hundreds of millions of doses from those companies most advanced in their work. This includes buying a further two million doses of Moderna’s vaccine, on top of the five million we have already secured. With a wide range of vaccine candidates in our portfolio, we stand ready to deploy a vaccine should they receive approval from our medicines regulator, starting with those who will benefit most.”

Chair of the government’s Vaccine Taskforce Kate Bingham said: “Since its inception in June, one of the most important stated aims of the Vaccines Taskforce has been to secure access to the most promising vaccines across a broad range of technologies – thereby increasing the chances of having a safe and effective prevention as soon as possible against COVID-19. Moderna’s vaccine was an important addition to our portfolio and securing an additional two million doses further adds to the protection we can provide to the public to end the pandemic.”

The UK government also broke down how many vaccines it has pre-ordered from various sources: 

• 100 million doses of University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – Phase III clinical trials

• 40 million doses of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine – Phase III clinical trials

• 7 million doses of Moderna vaccine – Phase III clinical trials

• 60 million doses of Novavax vaccine – Phase III clinical trials

• 60 million doses of Valneva vaccine – Pre-clinical trials

• 60 million doses of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)/Sanofi Pasteur vaccine – Phase I clinical trials

• 30 million doses of Janssen vaccine – Phase II clinical trials.