Moderna Posts $1.2 Billion Loss as Sales of COVID-19 Vaccine Plunge 94 Percent

Two vials of COVID-19 Moderna vaccines. Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images

Moderna posted a $1.2 billion loss in the first quarter of 2024, with the drugmaker blaming crashing sales of its COVID-19 vaccine.

The company notched $167 million in first-quarter sales of its COVID-19 vaccine (called Spikevax), according to a May 2 earnings report. That’s a 94 percent drop from the $2.8 billion in the prior quarter.

“This decline aligns with the anticipated transition to a seasonal COVID-19 vaccine market,” Moderna said in the report. “In the prior year period, the company recognized revenue primarily from delivered doses deferred from 2022.”

The company said that in the United States, where Moderna sold $100 million worth of its COVID-19 vaccine doses in the first quarter, it hopes to see higher vaccine uptake as it works to rush its newest 2024–2025 Spikevax formula to coincide with the distribution of flu shots during the fall influenza season.

“In the U.S., the company is reaffirming its 2024 product sales outlook as it enters the second year of the commercial endemic COVID market,” Moderna said. “Moderna’s focus is on working with public health officials, health care providers and pharmacies to increase vaccination coverage rates to reduce the substantial burden of COVID-19.”

The company also issued a $4 billion sales forecast for 2024, the lowest figure for annual revenue since U.S. health authorities granted emergency authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in late 2020.

More Vaccines in the Pipeline

Moderna touted the results of Phase 3 clinical trials of its “next-generation” COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA-1283), boasting higher immune response against both new and original virus strains than its original formula.

Clinical trials are also underway on a combination one-shot vaccine against the flu and COVID-19, which Moderna has dubbed mRNA-1083. Data from the study are expected at some point in 2024.

The drugmaker also reaffirmed that it expects to receive approval from regulators for its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine in time for it to be included in this fall’s vaccine campaign in the United States.

The company has expressed hope that its experimental shots—including for RSV, flu, and cancer—will compensate for dwindling COVID-19 vaccine revenue.

Falling demand for COVID-19 vaccines was also why Moderna competitor Pfizer’s first-quarter results saw a significant decline.

Falling Vaccine Sales Tank Pfizer Results

Pfizer’s profit plunged by more than 40 percent year over year in the first quarter, with the drugmaker blaming falling sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and antiviral treatment for the income crunch.

In its first-quarter 2024 results, released on May 1, Pfizer reported total revenues of $14.9 billion, representing a revenue decline of 20 percent year over year from the $18.5 billion notched in the same quarter last year.

Profit fell by 44 percent—from $5.5 billion a year ago to $3.1 billion in the first quarter of this year.

The company blamed falling sales of its COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) and its COVID-19 antiviral treatment (Paxlovid), which saw sharp declines in the United States and the rest of the world, for the revenue decline.

COVID-19 vaccine sales plunged by 64 percent in the United States. In other countries, it fell by 91 percent, for a total worldwide sales slump of 88 percent.

Paxlovid fared better in the United States, with sales declining by just 8 percent in the first quarter, year over year. It performed poorly in other countries (down by 89 percent), for a total worldwide sales decline of 50 percent.

Excluding the COVID-19 vaccine and antiviral treatment, first-quarter revenues grew by 11 percent operationally, Pfizer said.

Vaccine Controversy

While health officials maintain that Moderna’s and Pfizer’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are “safe and effective,” there are lingering doubts given that a significant number of vaccinated people have reported various adverse reactions.

The most common COVID-19 vaccine adverse events are those that affect the body generally, with fever, fatigue, and overall discomfort being the top three, according to the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. But there are others.

For instance, heart muscle inflammation (myocarditis) and inflammation of the lining outside the heart (pericarditis) have both officially been acknowledged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as known side effects of Moderna’s and Pfizer’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

Nervous system disorders have also been reported, with such disorders being the third most common in the Pfizer trials, coming after general and muscle-related adverse events.

Clinicians treating various persistent vaccine adverse reactions have said that the leading cause of such injuries is the COVID-19 spike protein.

Spike proteins exist on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that invades cells and causes disease. The COVID-19 mRNA vaccines (such as Moderna’s and Pfizer’s) also induce the body to make spike proteins.

The cells that are exposed to the mRNA produce spike proteins and then display these proteins on their surfaces. The immune system then attacks these spike proteins, forming an immunity against them.

According to earlier reporting from The Epoch Times, clinicians have put forward six pathways through which the spike proteins can cause damage, including immune dysregulation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and blood clotting and vascular damage. Multiple studies have shown that spike proteins directly bind to clotting factors in the blood, promoting both large and microclot formations.

Spike protein also damages blood vessels and is prone to forming blood clots, which can block coronary arteries, leading to heart attacks.

Recent reporting from The Epoch Times indicates that CDC officials found evidence suggesting that both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines caused multiple deaths—before claiming that there was no evidence linking the vaccines to any deaths.

Marina Zhang and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.