Moderna says Covid vaccine 93% effective six months after second dose

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Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine remains 93 per cent effective six months after the second dose, the US drugmaker said, as sales of the jab helped lift the company to a record quarterly profit.

The company’s coronavirus vaccine generated $4.2bn in second-quarter sales, Moderna said on Thursday, pushing it to a $2.8bn profit. Profits were in line with analysts’ expectations and up from $1.2bn in the first quarter of 2021.

The biotech said its vaccine remained 93 per cent effective against coronavirus infection after six months and 98 per cent effective against hospitalisation.

The US drugmaker reiterated its belief that booster shots will be needed later this year, despite the high six-month efficacy of its original two-dose Covid vaccine regimen.

It said phase 2 studies showed that its three booster options induced a “robust antibody response” against Covid-19 variants of concern, including Delta, which has been blamed for rising infections in some countries, including the US.

“We believe that the increased force of infection that’s resulting from the Delta variant and the seasonal effects of moving indoors will eventually lead to an increase of breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals,” said Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna.

He added that a “booster dose is likely to be necessary this fall, particularly in the face of the Delta variant”. Delta accounts for the majority of new US Covid infections and has resulted in surging hospitalisations in states with low vaccination rates.

Health officials are examining whether booster shots are needed to maintain immunity against the virus. Moderna’s booster trials are using 50mg doses, rather than the 100mg dose used in its original vaccine regimen. Hoge said the company would wait to assess data from its 100mg booster trials, expected “in just a few weeks”, before it files for regulatory approval.

Pfizer has already said it plans to seek US regulatory approval for a third shot. On Wednesday the World Health Organization called for a pause on offering boosters until more people in developing countries have been vaccinated.

Moderna is focusing its booster efforts on its original vaccine, multi-valent jabs that target multiple strains and a Delta variant-specific shot. It has dropped a vaccine targeting the Beta variant as “the epidemiology has moved away from the Beta variant to Delta”, Hoge said.

Moderna sold 199m doses of its mRNA vaccine in the three months to June and has signed $20bn worth of Covid-19 vaccine contracts this year, which include sales already made.

Its vaccine has been authorised for use in places including Europe, the US, UK, Japan and Canada.

Moderna expects to produce up to 1bn vaccine doses this year and 3bn in 2022. Stéphane Bancel, chief executive, said the drugmaker’s manufacturing capacity is now “totally maxed out” for 2021 and the company will not take new orders.

It has signed $12bn worth of contracts for 2022 and additional options worth $8bn, and has agreed some contracts for 2023, including with Israel and Switzerland. The company plans to begin a share buyback programme over the next two years for up to $1bn shares.

Hoge said that as the pandemic shifts into becoming an endemic, “market forces” would determine the price of vaccine doses.

The biotech company has applied for full regulatory approval in the US and expects to complete its submission in August.

Moderna’s shares rose 2 per cent in morning trading in New York.