Moderna Says It Will Ship 100M-125M COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Worldwide In Q1

Moderna Inc MRNA expects to make 100 million to 125 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine available worldwide in the first quarter of 2021.

What Happened: The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company affirmed Thursday in a statement that out of the doses slated for Q1, 85-100 million would be available in the United States and 15-25 million in other countries.

Moderna said that the Q1 doses are included in the 500 million doses it expects to make worldwide in 2021.

The vaccine maker would have nearly 20 million doses available by end of this month in the U.S.

Moderna disclosed that results from an early-stage study show that the volunteers who received a jab of mRNA-1273 vaccine retained high levels of binding and neutralizing antibodies, which declined slightly over time, after the first dose, but remained elevated three months after a booster dose.

Why It Matters: Moderna shares surged nearly 10% after the company announced the production targets and early test results.

Moderna’s vaccine has a near 95% efficacy, according to Phase 3 trial results, which is similar to an mRNA vaccine made by Pfizer Inc PFE and its German partner BioNTech SE BNTX.

Pfizer on Thursday cut its initial COVID-19 vaccine shipment outlook in half for the year due to supply-chain problems, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This week, the United Kingdom became the first country in the world to approve Pfizer’s vaccine.

Price Action: Moderna shares closed nearly 10% at $157.26 on Thursday and fell almost 0.8% in the after-hours session.