Moderna has promised that it will not enforce its COVID-19 vaccine patent in low- to middle-income countries where there is a struggle to distribute vaccines to the population.

In a press release on Monday, Moderna said that it will expand its “commitment to never enforce COVID-19 patents in the Gavi COVAX AMC for 92 low- and middle-income countries.”

Gavi COVAX AMC is an organization “working with pharmaceutical partners to have manufacturing in place so that doses can be procured and produced at scale as soon as vaccines receive regulatory approval and are licensed.”

The organization boasts helping vaccinate over 888 million children, preventing 15 million deaths. The organization started in 2000 as an outgrowth of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and “a group of founding partners.” It sought to help lower-income countries get access to crucial, life-saving vaccines.

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said that the company is “committed to defeating the pandemic across the globe, and we are fulfilling that through our pledge not to enforce our COVID-19-related patents in low- and middle-income countries, but also through our delivery of the most vaccine doses to COVAX at the lowest price per dose.”

For countries outside of the 92 GAVI COVAX Advance Market Commitment, Moderna determined that “vaccine supply is no longer a barrier to access.”

The company previously raised its guidance for COVID-19 vaccine sales by $2 billion as the virus evolves in many countries to an endemic phase and will require more booster shots.

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