Moderna Targets Production Of 3 Billion Doses Of COVID-19 Vaccine

Modern vaccine. (Wikimedia Commons / Navy Medicine)

JAKARTA - COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna Inc., announced on Thursday, April 29, plans to increase production capacity for the COVID-19 vaccine and expects to make up to 3 billion doses by 2022.

This figure is more than double the previous estimate, which Moderna said earlier would produce 1.4 billion shots by 2022.

In addition, Moderna also announced that it would raise expectations for vaccine production in 2021 to between 800 million and 1 billion doses, from the initial lower limit of only 700 million.

The final number of injections will depend on how many low-dose formulations are for boosters and immunizations for children. The current Moderna vaccine uses 100 micrograms of the vaccine substance, but some future injections may use only 50 micrograms.

"As we look forward to next year, we see so much need for primary vaccines, we hear about it all over the world, and also boosters", said Moderna President Stephen Hoge.

"So depending on how many orders that occur are the third dose or the pediatric dose at 50 micrograms, we can see up to 3 billion doses", he added.

Moderna Vaccine. (Wikimedia Commons / Airman 1st Class Anna Nolte ft. Zacharie Grossen)

Moderna also said new data suggests its vaccine can be stored safely for up to three months at refrigerator temperatures, making it easier to carry it to hard-to-reach areas that may not have access to a freezer.

"That may be a very important breakthrough in 2022 in Africa and low- and middle-income countries", said Hoge.

Moderna hopes to more than double production of the COVID-19 vaccine at the pharmaceutical ingredient factory in Switzerland run by Lonza Group AG, as well as more than double production at the Spain-based facility owned by Laboratorios Farmaceuticos ROVI SA. The US factory will also increase production by more than 50 percent.

The US drugmaker said it would start investing this year and that increased production would begin in late 2021 and continue through early 2022.

In addition, Moderna said it was in further talks for additional deals with other manufacturers to help make its vaccine. Moderna earlier this month announced production deals with Sanofi SA and Catalent Inc.

The day before, Moderna Inc. announced that the United States Government had agreed to increase the contract for the company's COVID-19 vaccine by $236 million to around $1.25 billion, to include additional costs related to the injection study.