COVID-19: “We may not be in a good place this fall”: Modern CEO
The majority of Moderna’s (MNRA) revenues come from governments abroad – which are preparing for an ongoing need for covid-19 vaccines this year.
While the US is waiting for funding and for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to decide which virus strain to attack through boosters, Moderna and other vaccine companies expect declining immunity to be a concern.
“This virus is no less contagious,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told Yahoo Finance. “As you can see more and more infectious variants … We are not done with this virus mutating,” he said.
The biggest risk in the fall, if boosting is delayed, is the potential for hospitals to fill up with those most vulnerable again, Bancel said.
The increased circulation from the intersection between diminishing immunity and a more transmissible variant, which is observed with more Omicron subvariants in the US and abroad, is the real risk, he said.
“We run the risk in the fall ̵[ads1]1; if we do not have the booster campaign early enough – that we may not be in a good place by the autumn,” Bancel said.
Meanwhile, increased global circulation is also leading to the germination of several varieties.
Of the $ 5.9 billion in vaccine revenue in the first quarter of this year – a significant jump from $ 1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2021 – the majority come from countries other than the United States, according to Moderna.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has pressured the company to share its vaccine prescription even though it is unable to order more doses through the COVAX facility for low- and middle-income countries.
Moderna said during its annual shareholders’ meeting that they are selling their vaccine as low as $ 7 per dose to these countries and have waived patent enforcement of the vaccine, in addition to plans for a facility in Kenya in the coming years.
In a profit announcement on Wednesday, CFO David Meline said that COVAX is another source of uncertainty for the company’s 2022 forecasts.
COVAX is “actually the consolidator of demand from land” and must confirm the requests per country before confirming the order to Moderna, Meline said.
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