HHS Buys 66 Million Doses of Updated Moderna Vaccine for ‘Early Fall’ Campaign

The Biden administration announced that it is buying 66 million doses of updated Moderna COVID-19 vaccine targeting the omicron variant ahead of a planned booster campaign starting in “early fall.” The updated vaccine will specifically target the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of omicron which are currently circulating and fueling a new increase in hospitalizations. The Moderna purchase comes on top of an order placed last month for 105 million doses of Pfizer’s updated vaccine. The Biden administration is using money that it had to cut from other areas of the pandemic response to make the purchase of the updated vaccines, given that Congress has not provided new funding.