Uber and Moderna Collaborate to Raise Awareness and Increase Access to COVID-19 Vaccines
Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA) and Uber (NYSE: UBER) have announced a partnership to enhance COVID-19 vaccine uptake. The collaboration will begin with providing vaccine safety information through Uber's app and will explore options like in-app ride scheduling for immunization appointments. Uber previously committed to offering 10 million free or discounted rides to facilitate access to vaccines, especially in underserved communities. Both companies aim to expand this initiative globally, reinforcing vaccine education and accessibility efforts.
- Collaboration with Uber to provide vaccine safety information and improve access to immunization.
- Uber's commitment to 10 million free or discounted rides targeted at underserved communities.
- Potential global expansion of vaccine accessibility efforts.
- None.
Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, and Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER), the world’s leading ridesharing and delivery platform, today announced a collaboration to explore ways to help support the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.
Moderna and Uber will work together initially to provide accessible, credible information on vaccine safety through Uber’s in-app messaging. The two companies will also work with public health and other organizations to identify additional opportunities to support ongoing efforts to broaden access to COVID-19 vaccines. Additional options being evaluated include incorporating ride scheduling directly into the immunization appointment process, and possibly integrating with vaccine providers’ systems to text reminders and enable patients to book rides in advance of their first or second immunization appointments.
“Used by millions of people every day, the Uber platform can both help educate the public about vaccine safety and help eliminate transportation barriers to vaccination. Together with Moderna, we hope to do our part to help increase vaccination awareness and adoption, and we look forward to exploring ways we can help ensure everyone, especially in the hardest-hit communities of color, has access to a vaccine,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
“As part of our commitment to help address COVID-19, Moderna will be working with a coalition of partners to educate, build trust around and increase awareness of the importance of vaccination in those communities significantly impacted by the pandemic. We look forward to combining our expertise with Uber’s capabilities and platform to support this important effort,” said Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel.
In December, Uber committed 10 million free or discounted rides to help ensure transportation is not a barrier to getting a vaccine. Targeting communities hardest hit by the pandemic, Uber partnered with the National Urban League, National Action Network and the Morehouse School of Medicine. Uber will continue to build a broad coalition of organizations committed to breaking down transportation barriers in these communities.
The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine has been authorized for emergency use in the U.S. by the FDA for active immunization to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in individuals 18 years of age and older and has been authorized by Health Canada for the immunization of Canadians 18 years of age and older under an Interim Order. The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine has also been granted a Conditional Marketing Authorization by the European Commission, based upon the recommendation of the European Medicines Agency, which authorizes the COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna for active immunization to prevent COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus in individuals 18 years of age and older.
While initially targeting Uber users in the United States, the companies anticipate expanding this partnership globally in the coming months alongside ongoing immunization efforts.
About Uber
Uber’s mission is to create opportunity through movement. We started in 2010 to solve a simple problem: how do you get access to a ride at the touch of a button? More than 15 billion trips later, we're building products to get people closer to where they want to be. By changing how people, food, and things move through cities, Uber is a platform that opens up the world to new possibilities.
About Moderna
In 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a science research-stage company advancing programs in the promising-but-still-unproven field of messenger RNA (mRNA), to an enterprise with its first medicine having treated millions of people, a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across six modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio in areas including mRNA and lipid nanoparticle formulation, and an integrated manufacturing plant that allows for both clinical and commercial production at scale and at unprecedented speed. Moderna maintains alliances with a broad range of domestic and overseas government and commercial collaborators, which has allowed for the pursuit of both groundbreaking science and rapid scaling of manufacturing. Most recently, Moderna’s capabilities have come together to allow the authorized use of one of the earliest and most-effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moderna’s mRNA platform builds on continuous advances in basic and applied mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, and has allowed the development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases and auto-immune diseases. Today, 24 development programs are underway across these therapeutic areas, with 13 programs having entered the clinic. Moderna has been named a top biopharmaceutical employer by Science for the past six years. To learn more, visit www.modernatx.com.
Special Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, statements regarding collaborative efforts between Uber and Moderna to facilitate vaccination with the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine and the provision of ridesharing services to customers by Uber. While Uber and Moderna each believes the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are accurate, these forward-looking statements represent the companies’ beliefs only as of the date of this press release and there are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Those risks and uncertainties include, among other things, those risks listed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Uber’s annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and available through Uber’s website at www.uber.com and on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, as well as those risks listed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Moderna’s most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC and in subsequent filings made by Moderna with the SEC, which are available on Moderna’s website at www.modernatx.com and on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Except as required by law, Uber and Moderna each disclaim any intention or responsibility for updating or revising any forward-looking statements contained in this press release in the event of new information, future developments or otherwise.
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