Moderna wins $3.3B Defense Department contract for additional COVID-19 vaccine doses
The order is for 200 million doses
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The Department of Defense on Monday announced a $3.3 billion contract was awarded to Moderna last week for the production of hundreds of millions of additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.
The DoD said the order was for 200 million doses of the company’s double-shot vaccine, scheduled for completion in March of next year.
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The order comes as 62.5% of people aged 12 and up had received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data updated on Monday. Nearly 53% of people in the same age group were fully vaccinated.
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The fully vaccinated percentages climbed to 66% for people aged 18 and over, and 77% for those aged 65 and over.
President Biden had initially set a goal of having 70% of American adults partially vaccinated by July 4, though the pace of vaccinations has fallen off throughout recent months.
The White House has campaigned to get more Americans to sign up to receive their vaccines, though it is not expected that the 70% target rate will be reached by the July 4 holiday.