Moderna produced 824,000 COVID-19 vaccines until 2021-end: exec

A dose of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

Moderna Inc. produced 824,000 COVID-19 vaccines until 2021-end, versus 10,000 doses monthly in 2019, Cesar Sanz Rodriguez, Moderna Vice President, Medical Affairs for Europe, Middle East & Africa told Argaam.

About 25% of these doses were shipped to the low- and middle-income countries, said Rodriguez, adding that the US pharmaceutical company’s goal was to protect as many people as possible since the onset of the pandemic.

Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine was fully licensed in the US, Canada, Japan, EU, UK and other countries. It also received regulatory authorizations for adolescents.

On Dec. 18, 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) that allowed Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed in the US for use among individuals who are 18 years and older.

Rodriguez indicated that Moderna administered the first dose to the first participant in a phase two trial to study its Omicron-specific booster candidate. Moderna is enrolling two cohorts of participants in the study and each cohort will enroll around 300 people from around 24 regions around the US. Participants will receive one dose of Omicron-specific booster mRNA-1273.529.

Cohort one covers people who received the second of their two doses of Moderna’s Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine at least six months ago. Cohort two is enrolling people who received a half-dose Spikevax booster, on top of their two primary shots of the Moderna vaccine, at least three months ago.

Moderna is advancing the Omicron-specific variant vaccine booster candidate, given the long-term threat demonstrated by Omicron's immune escape.

Combining two different COVID-19 vaccines provides higher antibody levels and stronger T-cells responses. In addition, current COVID-19 booster shots can strengthen the body's immune defences, and the booster shot also neutralizes immune-evading strains, such as the Beta, Gamma and Delta.

At six months after the booster dose, neutralization titers against the Omicron variant were 6.3 times lower than the peak titers assessed one month after the booster.

Additionally, studies indicated that six months after a 50-mg mRNA-1273 vaccine booster dose, neutralization titers against the Omicron variant remained the same.