Moderna said it will downsize its number of coronavirus vaccine doses expected to be delivered this year from 1 billion doses to 800 million.
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told investors Thursday that transporting vaccines overseas to foreign countries is taking longer than expected and has become the primary reason for the reduced shipments, Axios reported.
Noting his company has shipped 90% of its vaccines to richer nations, Bancel now wants to focus on poorer countries getting more vaccines. The Biden administration has warned Moderna to “step up” its supply to meet global demand and balance the distribution inequity, Axios reported.
The drugmaker delivered 510 million doses worldwide in the first nine months of this year, culminating in a $10.7 billion in sales, Axios reported. That’s about $21 a dose, compared with nearly $15.65 dose for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Present projections put Moderna’s vaccine revenue between $15 billion and $18 billion, down from an initial forecast of $20 billion.