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I know making a vaccine is a little different than making strawberry jam, but why is there so little supply of the Moderna vaccine given this situation?

10x-dev 5y ago
I see a lot of Moderna vaccine appointments in MA. Maybe they don't have the scale like Pfizer and most of their supply is staying in MA?
- umanwizard 5y ago
  Nope, I got Moderna weeks ago on Staten Island, NYC.
CubsFan1060 5y ago
Seems like it it very common in the Mountain West region. Especially at the start, it seemed like far more Moderna than Pfizer. Now it seems about equal.
anonu 5y ago
Is there so little supply? I thought there was a glut of vaccines in the US. I just got my second dose of Moderna yesterday (in the US South), and there was nobody at the vaccine center.
- FriedrichN 5y ago
  I should perhaps noted that I was speaking from an EU perspective. The US seems to be doing great, I wish I could say that we are as well.
_fizz_buzz_ 5y ago
Not OP, just to clarify for US folks: Here in the EU Moderna is only small part of the vaccination effort. The breakdown so far is roughly 70% Pfizer/Biontech, 20% AstraZenca and 10% Moderna. The Moderna deliveries are supposed to increase in Q3, however I am not sure how relevant it will be at that point. The EU also finalized a deal for 1.8 billion Pfizer/Biontech shots for the next couple years. So Moderna will probably also not be super relevant here going forward.
thaeli 5y ago
Before COVID, Moderna was a startup which had never brought a therapy to market. They've managed to stay independent, instead of a marriage to one of the giants like BioNTech has. As such, Moderna's production capacity was almost entirely funded by the US via OWS contracts - so until those orders are fulfilled, almost all Moderna doses have to go to the US, and even after that Pfizer has much larger global production capacity.

10x-dev 5y ago

I see a lot of Moderna vaccine appointments in MA. Maybe they don't have the scale like Pfizer and most of their supply is staying in MA?

umanwizard 5y ago
Nope, I got Moderna weeks ago on Staten Island, NYC.

CubsFan1060 5y ago

Seems like it it very common in the Mountain West region. Especially at the start, it seemed like far more Moderna than Pfizer. Now it seems about equal.

anonu 5y ago

Is there so little supply? I thought there was a glut of vaccines in the US. I just got my second dose of Moderna yesterday (in the US South), and there was nobody at the vaccine center.

FriedrichN 5y ago
I should perhaps noted that I was speaking from an EU perspective. The US seems to be doing great, I wish I could say that we are as well.

_fizz_buzz_ 5y ago

Not OP, just to clarify for US folks: Here in the EU Moderna is only small part of the vaccination effort. The breakdown so far is roughly 70% Pfizer/Biontech, 20% AstraZenca and 10% Moderna. The Moderna deliveries are supposed to increase in Q3, however I am not sure how relevant it will be at that point. The EU also finalized a deal for 1.8 billion Pfizer/Biontech shots for the next couple years. So Moderna will probably also not be super relevant here going forward.

thaeli 5y ago

Before COVID, Moderna was a startup which had never brought a therapy to market. They've managed to stay independent, instead of a marriage to one of the giants like BioNTech has. As such, Moderna's production capacity was almost entirely funded by the US via OWS contracts - so until those orders are fulfilled, almost all Moderna doses have to go to the US, and even after that Pfizer has much larger global production capacity.