The US government has agreed to purchase an additional 100 million doses each of both the COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna for a total of an additional 200 million doses.

President Joe Biden directed the US government’s COVID-19 Response Coordinator to work with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to increase the total vaccine supply in the US. The Biden-Harris Administration is working to purchase an additional 100 million doses each of the two Food and Drug Administration-authorized vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. 

This increases the total vaccine order for the US by 50%, from 400 million to 600 million with these additional doses expected to be delivered this summer (summer 2021). With these additional doses, the US government says the US will have enough vaccine to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of this summer (summer 2021).

The Biden-Harris Administration will increase overall weekly vaccine supply to states, tribes and territories from 8.6 million doses to a minimum of 10 million doses. This increase of 1.4 million doses per week will allow millions more individuals to get vaccinated sooner than previously anticipated. The Administration is committing to maintaining this as the minimum supply level for the next three weeks (as reported on January 26, 2021).

Increased order commitment for Moderna

The additional 100 million purchase agreement with Moderna would bring the US government’s confirmed order commitment with the company to 300 million doses.

Moderna says it will continue to use its US-based manufacturing infrastructure to supply the its COVID-19 vaccine to the US government. The vaccine received emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on December 18, 2020, and Moderna began supplying to the government shortly thereafter.

Moderna has reporting that 30.4 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine have been supplied to the US government to date (as reported on January 26, 2021). Approximately 10.1 million doses have been administered in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Moderna confirms that it is on track to deliver on its commitment of approximately 100 million doses to the US government by the end of the first quarter of 2021, with 200 million doses total available by the end of the second quarter of 2021.

On January 4, 2021 the company announced that it increased its base-case global production estimate from 500 to 600 million doses for 2021. Moderna is continuing to invest and add staff to build up to potentially 1 billion doses for 2021.

Source: White House, Moderna (100 million doses), and Moderna (supply update)