Moderna coronavirus vaccine begins rollout as US races to broaden injection campaign

US distribution of Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine began on Saturday, with more than 3,700 sites due to start receiving and administering shots as soon as Monday, vastly widening the rollout started last week by Pfizer Inc.

Amid record coronavirus infections and deaths, Moderna has already moved vaccine supplies from its manufacturing plants to warehouses operated by distributor McKesson Corp.

READ MORE

Moderna coronavirus vaccine gets US authorisation, second in 8 days

UAE reports four deaths due to COVID-19; 1,254 new cases

Workers on Saturday were packing vaccines into containers and loading them on trucks, US Army General Gustave Perna said during a news conference. Trucks will set out on Sunday and shipments will start reaching healthcare providers as soon as Monday, he said.

A man wears a medical mask on the subway as New York City confronts the coronavirus outbreak. AFP

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved an emergency use authorisation for Moderna's vaccine, the second COVID-19 vaccine to receive approval.

Moderna said a panel of outside advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted on Saturday to recommend its vaccine for use in people aged 18 and older. The Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices panel voted 11-0 in favour of the vaccine.

Pfizer organised its own distribution system.

The jab developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE was authorised Dec. 11.

Pharmaceutical services provider Catalent Inc's facility in Bloomington, Indiana, is filling and packaging vials with Moderna vaccine and handing them to McKesson. The company is shipping them from its facilities including those in Louisville, Kentucky and Memphis, Tennessee, which are close to air hubs for United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp .

Pfizer organised its own distribution system. The US government's vaccine programme, dubbed Operation Warp Speed, is in charge of logistics for Moderna's distribution under Perna.