Moderna said on Monday during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference that its Covid-19 vaccine should confer immunity for “at least a year,” Reuters reported.
The company added it was confident its vaccine was effective against the new strain of coronavirus discovered in Britain and South Africa.
The Moderna vaccine is based on a technology whereby synthetic mRNA is injected into the body to induce the body’s cells to create a protein resembling the surface of the coronavirus so as to elicit an immune response from the body.
Moderna and Pfizer have received emergency use authorization for use of the mRNA technology, which had not been approved before in a vaccine or drug.
Moderna says it expects to deliver between 600 million doses and 1 billion does of its vaccine in 2021 and generate $11.7 billion in sales of the vaccine for the year.
“The team feels very comfortable with the track record we have now ... that we are on track to deliver at least 600 million doses,” Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel said, according to Reuters.