On Monday, Moderna (MRNA -1.61%) reached a significant milestone in the battle against the pandemic: The company announced that it had shipped the 100 millionth dose of its mRNA-1273 coronavirus vaccine to the U.S. government.
The majority of those have already found their way into American arms. Moderna cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures showing that around 67 million doses of mRNA-1273 have been administered in the country so far.
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Moderna's jab is one of three vaccines for the coronavirus that have thus far received emergency use authorizations (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration. The two others were developed by Pfizer and BioNTech BNT-162b2, and Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen.
"I would like to thank the millions of people who have put their confidence in Moderna's science and our COVID-19 vaccine," said CEO Stephane Bancel.
"We are humbled to know that we are helping address this worldwide pandemic with our vaccine," he added.
The FDA granted mRNA-1273 its EUA on Dec. 18. Since then, according to Moderna, it has ramped up shipments. These stood at over 16 million doses in Q4, a number that has risen dramatically to 88 million to date in Q1. In order to fulfill its standing commitment to the government, the company plans to provide an additional 40 to 50 million doses per month. All ordered doses should be delivered by the end of July.
Monday, however, wasn't a good day for the company on Wall Street. Its shares fell by 7.4%, while the S&P 500 index closed the trading session essentially flat.
