STA, 9 January 2020 - Slovenia is to receive 26,000 doses of the newly approved Moderna coronavirus vaccine by the end of February, the Health Ministry said on Saturday. The European Commission and Moderna agreed on the supply of 80 million doses with the possibility of increase by another 80 million doses. Slovenia has the right to 369,767 doses from each supply.
Moderna vaccine was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on 6 January and its distribution among member states will start next week. It is the second coronavirus vaccine to gain approval in the EU, with Pfizer/BioNTech inoculation campaign running since 27 December.
The US-French pharmaceutical company has informed the European Commission and member states that its production capacities are limited, affecting its supply of the EU market, the Health Ministry said.
While Slovenia is to get 26,000 doses in the first two months of the year, Modern is yet to inform the Commission and member states how many doses it will be able to deliver in March, the Health Ministry said.
It also expressed hope that the company will be able to scale up its production capacities soon and underlined that Slovenia is striving to get as much vaccine as it is eligible to, no matter the price.
The European Commission has moreover called on member states to inform it of their needs for more doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, the ministry said, adding that Slovenia expressed interest for one million additional doses.
Both the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines require two doses to achieve immunity.
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