Moderna, "To Increase Vaccine Production by 20% This Year... Up to 1 Billion Doses"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Moderna announced that it will increase its production target for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine by 20% compared to the previous goal this year. The plan is to produce up to 1 billion doses within the year to meet the demand from various countries.

According to foreign media such as CNBC, Moderna stated in a press release on the 4th (local time) that it is raising the minimum global vaccine production forecast for this year from the previous 500 million doses to 600 million doses, a 20% increase from the earlier estimate. The company plans to produce and supply between a minimum of 600 million and a maximum of 1 billion doses worldwide within this year. Moderna also announced that it will supply 100 million doses to the United States, the first country to approve and administer the vaccine, by the first quarter, and 200 million doses by the second quarter. Earlier, the U.S. government signed a contract last year to purchase 200 million doses from Moderna and secured an option to buy an additional 300 million doses.

Moderna's vaccine has reportedly distributed about 18 million doses within the United States since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization last month. Juan Andres, Moderna's Chief Technical Operations and Quality Officer, said, "The efficient initial supply to the U.S. and Canada and the increase in the minimum production estimate for 2021 signal the success of our mRNA vaccine production expansion." Moderna added that it will continue to invest and hire to increase global vaccine production.

Meanwhile, Swiss pharmaceutical company Lonza previously announced that it received approval from Swiss health authorities for contract manufacturing of Moderna's vaccine. Headquartered in Basel, Lonza signed a COVID-19 vaccine production contract with Moderna in May last year and is currently producing vaccines at its factory in the United States. Lonza stated that in the future, more than 800,000 doses per day could be produced solely at its Swiss facility.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.