Moderna, the American Biotechnology company that works on drug discovery development and vaccine technologies, announced its decision to charge governments Rs1800 to Rs3000 dollars for each dose of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Chief Executive of the Cambridge, Massachusetts based company Stephane Bancel told German weekly Welt am Sonntag that the rates would also depend on the amount ordered by each government. Bancel also talked about how the company’s vaccine is of the same cost as a flu shot which costs about Rs 1800 to Rs 3000.
As of now, the European Commission is trying to strike a deal with Moderna so as to avail millions of doses of the vaccine candidate at a price below Rs1800 per dose. While nothing has been made official or signed, Bancel mentioned that the company was close to sealing a deal with the European Union Commission. He further added that a contract for the same would be made ready in a few days. Talks of acquiring the vaccine by the EU has been ongoing since at least the month of July.
On the basis of interim data acquired from a late-stage clinical trial, Moderna has claimed that its vaccine candidate is 94.5% effective. The only other developers to report such staggering results were Pfizer and its partner BioNTech.
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