This masthead can reveal only two credible bids emerged from the tender process: CSL and Moderna, a pandemic darling whose stock price is now about a 10th of its 2021 peak. Initial proposals from Moderna were more costly than the final price tag and were knocked back by the Morrison cabinet in a round of talks led by an Australian independent negotiator, according to Coalition government sources unable to speak publicly about the talks. Seven months after Hunt's press conference, the government selected Moderna to build a factory at Monash University in Melbourne capable of producing up to 100 million doses a year. Its price was initially confidential but revealed to be $2 billion by Finance Minister Katy Gallagher in June.