Moderna Expects To Increase Its Vaccine Production By Up To 3 Billion Shots In 2022
American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna Inc announced on Tuesday that are expecting to produce 3 billion doses of their Covid-19 vaccine in 2022.
The firm also revealed that they are planning to increase their vaccine production from 800 million to 1 billion from the current 700 million.
The actual number of vaccine production is based on the number of lower-dose formulations that are used for immunizations and boosters for children. The current Moderna shots contain 100 micrograms of the pure vaccine substance. They plan to make 50 microgram vaccines in the future.
Stephen Hoge, the president of said Moderna said, ‘As we look forward to next year, we just see so much need for primary vaccine, we are hearing it all over the world, and also boosters.’
He also said that depending on the number of third doses and pediatric doses in the order, they could make up to 3 billion doses. Previously the company said that they were expecting to produce 1.4 billion shots in 2022.
They also revealed that new studies have found that the shots can be stored for up to three months at refrigerator temperatures. It now can be stored in places that do not have freezers.
Hoge said that it could be helpful for Africa and other middle-income countries in 2022.
After AstraZeneca Plc and Johnson & Johnson had faced difficulties regarding production problems, wealthy governments have been buying Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, and Moderna.
This has caused other lower-income countries to struggle to get enough shots.
India has been greatly devastated by the second wave of Coronavirus. There have been more than 300000 cases with over 2000 deaths every day in the past week. Less than 10% of its 1.3 billion citizens have received the first dose of the vaccine. Merely 20 million have been fully vaccinated.
Moderna is planning to double up their production at a facility in Spain, owned by Laboratorios Farmaceuticos ROVI SA, and at a drug substance plant in Switzerland, owned by Lonza Group AG. Its US-based facilities also expect to boost their production by over 50%.
The company created their two-dose vaccine by using messenger-RNA technology to build immunity against the Coronavirus.
The company said that they will start their production boost in late 2021 and continue till early 2022.
The American drugmaker has already signed a deal with Sanofi SA and Catalent Inc. for more vaccine production.
They will need a regulatory permit to ship the vaccines at the higher, refrigerator-level temperatures.
Until now, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson are the only vaccine makers whose shots can be stored without a freezer.
Moderna Inc made an announcement on Wednesday that the government of the USA had made an agreement to increase Moderna’s Coronavirus vaccine by $236 million to nearly $1.25 billion.
