COVID-19: Moderna to supply 20 mln doses of vaccine to Argentina

Moderna Inc said it had signed a supply agreement with the government of Argentina for 20 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine or its updated variant booster vaccine candidate on Monday.

The company said, delivery was expected to begin in the first quarter of 2022.

The Latin American country said, it was looking to sign a supply deal with the U.S. vaccine maker as of last week, in an attempt to speed up the inoculation of its population and sidestep a possible third wave of the coronavirus.

So far, the country’s vaccine program has been largely built around Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, China’s Sinopharm and the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine developed with Oxford University.

Argentina had registered 4.6 million cases of COVID-19 and 98,781 related deaths as of Monday.

Moderna has received emergency authorization for the use of its COVID-19 vaccine in adults from health agencies in more than 50 countries.

READ ALSO: Argentina hospitals full as COVID-19 cases hit 3 million

Kamila/Reuters