Moderna Inc has offered to sell its Covid-19 vaccines to the African Union at $7 a shot, according to the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control John Nkengasong.

Reuters reports the price is half of that paid by the United States earlier in the year. It is also a substantial discount to what other buyers like the European Union have agreed this year, part of a broader trend for drugmakers to sell at lower prices to lower-income countries.

"I am happy to say that a dose of the Moderna vaccine will be $7. That is what is being offered to us," Nkengasong told a weekly virtual media briefing.

Vials with a sticker reading, "Covid-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only" and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed Moderna logo. — Reuters/File
Vials with a sticker reading, "Covid-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only" and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed Moderna logo. — Reuters/File

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