"The UK was one of the first countries in Europe to sign a deal with Moderna, and I’m delighted we have been able to secure a further 2 million doses of their promising candidate for the British public," Business Secretary Alok Sharma said as quoted in the government release.
According to the statement, the new deal, signed on Sunday, brings the total number of Moderna vaccine doses secured for the UK to 7 million.
"Following today’s deal, the UK now has access to enough doses of Moderna’s vaccine candidate for around 3.5 million people," the British government said on Sunday.
According to the government release, the Moderna vaccine still needs to get approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
In total, the UK has secured 357 million vaccine doses from 7 different developers.
Earlier this month, US biotech firm Moderna said that its mRNA-based candidate vaccine against COVID-19 had proven to be 94.5 percent effective in Phase 3 clinical trials. The biotech company added that the vaccine was "generally well tolerated," although side effects such as fatigue, myalgia, and headaches were reported in a minority of participants.
