Belgium orders Moderna vaccine too
Belgium has decided to place an order for two million doses of the Moderna vaccine. The decision to place the order with the US biotech company means that Belgium has now ordered corona vaccines from five different producers.
Belgium will benefit from the European commission’s order for 80 million Moderna vaccines. The commission also has an option on another 80 million vaccines to be distributed across the EU.
The two million Moderna doses will be sufficient to protect one million people as two doses are needed for the vaccine to become effective. Moderna says its vaccine is 94.5% effective.
The order for vaccines from a fifth supplier means Belgium should have enough doses to protect its entire population. Earlier Belgium placed orders with AstraZeneca/Oxford University, JanssenPharmaceutica (Johnson&Johnson), Pfizer-BioNTech and CureVac. These orders were good for 20.8 million doses, enough to vaccinate 10.4 million people.