EU in talks with Moderna over new vaccine supply deal

Brussels is negotiating a new Covid-19 vaccine procurement deal with US drugmaker Moderna as EU health authorities grow concerned about a rise in coronavirus infections.

The deal is being negotiated between Brussels and the Boston-based biotechnology group, two people familiar with the matter said, with member states able to confirm their interest on an individual basis.

At least eight EU countries were interested in opting into a new supply deal, one of the people said, adding that the contract was specifically for messenger ribonucleic acid-based Covid-19 vaccines. BioNTech/Pfizer, the other manufacturer of mRNA jabs, already has a multiyear deal with the EU.

The contract would cover the provision of jabs until 2026, the person added. Its terms would allow national health authorities to decide which formulations of the vaccine to procure each season. As winter approaches. vaccine makers have been updating their jabs so that they can handle highly mutated subvariants of Omicron, the current dominant strain.

Moderna said such an agreement would be “the fastest way to procure Covid-19 vaccines for member-state use”.

“With vaccination campaigns set to start in October, time is of the essence for the European Commission to ensure a diversified supply of Covid-19 vaccines,” it said, adding that Moderna’s updated Covid vaccine was approved for use in the EU and ready to be supplied.

The commission and the Health Emergency and Response Authority, which was established in response to the pandemic, declined to comment on the negotiations.

The price per jab had been discussed at about €25 a dose, one of the people said, but would be finalised in negotiations. Such a price would be in line with previous deals. The Financial Times reported in 2021 that Moderna and Pfizer had increased prices after phase 3 trial data showed their mRNA vaccines had higher efficacy rates than cheaper shots developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

Moderna declined to comment on pricing levels.

The company signed a deal with the EU at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, but its last amendment to supply 15mn Omicron-adjusted vaccines ran out in August last year without being renewed.

The deal would come at a time when Pfizer holds near-monopoly status on EU Covid vaccine supplies. In May, the commission and Pfizer agreed a deal to cut the number of vaccines supplied to the EU, putting an end to tensions between member states overpaying for shots that ran the risk of not being used.