Moderna bags new US govt contract for COVID-19 booster jab

US mRNA specialist Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA) on Friday announced that the US government has secured 66 million doses of a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster candidate, mRNA-1273.222, a bivalent booster candidate containing Spikevax plus the Omicron BA.4/5 strain mRNA. Moderna’s shares rose 3.8% to $164.09 on the news.

The contract includes an award of up to $1.74 billion for the manufacture and delivery of 66 million doses of mRNA-1273.222, as well as options to purchase up to an additional 234 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine booster candidates from Moderna. That comes out at $26.36 per jab. In August 2020, the US bought 100 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for about $10 less, at around $15.75 a shot, according to Reuters.

"We are pleased to extend our successful collaboration with the US government," said Stéphane Bancel, chief executive of Moderna, noting that "Moderna's mRNA platform is enabling us to rapidly create mRNA-1273.222, a bivalent vaccine that specifically targets Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, the most prevalent variants of concern in the US today. We remain fully committed to leveraging our innovative technology platform to offer tailored vaccines that help protect communities against COVID-19."