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Moderna reduces production of COVID-19 vaccine

Moderna reduces production of COVID-19 vaccine

September 13 |

Drugmaker Moderna announced Wednesday that it is scaling back manufacturing of its COVID-19 vaccine, an updated version of which was approved this week by U.S. regulators.

Moderna said the decision is driven by lower post-pandemic demand that will help the company reach its target of 75% to 80% gross revenue growth sooner.

Moderna is in talks with its partners that fill vials and syringes with its messenger RNA-based COVID vaccines globally to reduce production, Stephen Hoge, president of the Massachusetts-based company, said in an interview.

The reduction, Hoge added, will help Moderna adapt to the endemic phase of the disease, which had led to a drop in demand for COVID vaccines as buyers have reduced orders for injections.

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Moderna predicted in August that U.S. demand for the vaccine would reach between 50 million and 100 million doses in the fall season. About 153.8 million COVID injections were administered in the U.S. in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“For the last two years, we’ve been in pandemic mode producing 1 billion doses a year,” Hoge said. “We’ve been waiting for the time when the pandemic is officially behind us and we need to restructure that manufacturing footprint.”

Following clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday, Moderna said it would begin shipping doses of the COVID vaccine throughout the United States.

The company has agreements to supply its vaccine to other countries, including Britain, Canada and Japan, but does not yet have an agreement with the European Union, according to Hoge, who also said COVID was the focus of Moderna’s manufacturing agreement with China.

Hoge added that while Moderna is urgently working to reduce COVID manufacturing, talks with third-party manufacturers, which will help produce the upcoming respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza vaccines that investors hope will begin to replace Moderna’s dwindling COVID revenues, could extend into next year.

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“These are relationships we will need for decades to come,” Hoge said.

Moderna also announced Wednesday that it had completed the regulatory filing for its RSV vaccine and that its flu vaccine had generated a stronger immune response against all four A and B strains of the virus compared with traditional flu vaccines in a late-stage trial.

The efficacy of Moderna’s flu vaccine was demonstrated in all age groups, including older patients, and proved to be safe and tolerable, according to the company.

Moderna also said it had found its vaccine to be equal or superior to Sanofi’s high-dose flu vaccine in a separate initial comparative study.

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International

Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized what he described as unfair fees imposed on American ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that Washington take back control of the strategic waterway.

“Our Navy and commerce have been threatened in a very unjust and reckless way. The rates that Panama charges are ridiculous,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The president-elect also denounced the growing influence of China in the canal, a situation he called concerning as U.S. businesses depend on the waterway to transport goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

“This complete scam against our country will end immediately,” he stated.

The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was handed over to Panama under the 1977 treaty signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control of the commercial passage in 1999.

“It was exclusively for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would never allow it to fall into the wrong hands!”

“If Panama cannot guarantee a ‘safe, efficient, and reliable’ operation of the canal, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety, without a doubt,” the Republican added.

Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to Trump’s statements. While he will assume office on January 20, Trump has been exerting his political influence in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration.

Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, which allows vessels traveling from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long and dangerous route around the southern tip of South America.

The countries that use the Panama Canal the most are the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea.

In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earnings of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.

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International

Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised more “destruction” in Ukraine on Sunday, in response to a drone strike that hit a residential building in the city of Kazan, located in central Russia, on Saturday.

Russia accused Ukraine of launching a “massive” drone attack, which struck a luxury apartment block in Kazan, about 1,000 kilometers from the border.

Videos shared on Russian social media show drones hitting a high-rise glass building. No casualties have been reported as a result of the attack.

In his statements, Putin addressed the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, during a virtual ceremony marking the opening of a road.

The attack in Kazan is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent bombings in this nearly three-year-old conflict. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.

Putin had previously threatened to strike the center of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.

The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were retaliation for Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles to target Russian territory.

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International

Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people

At least nine people were killed on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed in a commercial area of the tourist city of Gramado, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities confirmed.

“There are nine confirmed deaths according to Civil Defense services, and there are no survivors from the plane,” said Cléber dos Santos Lima, director of the Interior Police Department of the Civil Police of the state, in a statement to AFP.

Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, a turbo-prop Piper Cheyenne 400. However, Civil Defense had previously stated that “preliminarily, the plane was carrying ten people.”

The plane crashed on Sunday morning “into the chimney of a building, then onto the second floor of a house, and finally fell onto a furniture store,” according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Sul Public Security Secretariat.

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