‘A good problem to have’: There will be too much Covid-19 vaccine production in 2022, says Moderna boss

The CEO of pharmaceutical company Moderna has said Covid-19 vaccine production will overtake demand next year and while this is a “good problem” for the world, it is not ideal for companies making and selling the jabs.

Speaking on Friday, Moderna's CEO Stephane Bancel told participants at a virtual event that his company was on track to produce a billion doses of their Covid-19 vaccine this year, enough for 500 million people. 

Bancel predicted that there would actually be too much supply globally in 2022, with Moderna itself raising production to 1.4 billion jabs. “Well, if anything that is a good problem to have in terms of dealing with the pandemic but it’s not a nice problem to have if you’re the one manufacturing the vaccine I guess,” he said. 

The Moderna boss said his firm was working hard to bring out a booster vaccine for late summer or fall as the need shifts to protecting against new variants of the virus.Global Covid-19 vaccine production has increased massively in 2021 and will continue as the year progresses. China claims it will have the capacity to produce 5 billion jabs by the end of the year, while India has said it will produce 100 million shots of its indigenous vaccine, Covaxin, alone by September. 

Britain, a relatively small country by population, will be manufacturing at least three vaccines, AstraZeneca, Novavax and Valneva, before the end of the year.

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