Britain's jabs campaign gets fresh boost with plans to roll out Moderna vaccine

BRITAIN’S jabs campaign was given a fresh boost last night with news that a third vaccine will be rolled out within days.

US company Moderna is expected to deliver its first batch in early April and is on track to meet supply targets.

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This will help keep the UK rollout moving at a time when the NHS was braced for a slight drop off in supplies from AstraZeneca.

Ministers have pre-ordered 17million doses of the Moderna vaccine, which in tests was 94 per cent effective in preventing coronavirus.

It was approved for use in early January but the biotech firm that developed it said it would not be able to deliver supplies until spring.

A government source said: “The timing couldn’t be better. It will be arriving in only modest amounts but will keep the programme ticking over.

Moderna’s jab works in a similar way to the Pfizer vaccine, which is already offered on the NHS along with the Oxford/AstraZeneca version.

Meanwhile, 60,000 UK companies have applied for rapid home-testing kits for employees — and more are urged by Health Secretary Matt Hancock to get lateral flow tests.

Kits, which give a result in 30 minutes, should be supplied from next week to firms with more than ten workers.

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